First Impressions
by ElGal
Summary: The war survivors are back for their eighth year at Hogwarts with a new emphasis on peace between the houses and, once, opposing sides of the war. Harry x Draco, rated M for language and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**Rating:**** M for language and sexual content in later chapters. Male/male pairings.**

**Summary:**** The war survivors are back for their eighth year at Hogwarts with a new emphasis on peace between the houses and, once, opposing sides of the war. Will this window of opportunity allow Harry to act on his hidden feelings for a certain blonde beauty?**

**A/N:**** This is my first fanfic that I've written. I've done around half of the chapters already, but please read and review to let me know if you think I should upload them! I'll probably upload two a day or so until I run out and have to start writing them again, in which case I'll upload them as they come. Enjoy!**

**First Impressions.**

**Chapter 1.**

Harry hated him.

He'd been part of his life for seven, soon to be eight, years now, and he still couldn't get over the maddening rate Harry's heart pulsed at every time he was anywhere near him. And Harry hated him for making him feel like that; for making him lose all his composure; for filling his mind again and again until he wasn't even sure if he'd ever left it. But what's worse is that he hated Harry, too. He'll never know that Harry loves him, he'll never know how he makes him feel; so what was he supposed to do? Harry had to force all the shouting and fighting and hexing, not even being able to hold one civil conversation with him.

And it hurt. It really, honest to God, hurt. But there was nothing Harry could do about it because every time he tried to talk to him, he ended up in the hospital wing with some sort of bodily fluid spewing out of him.

And then there's Ginny. Dear Lord, there's Ginny. Everywhere Harry went there's Ginny. He doesn't even know how to start thinking about trying to rid himself of her. Harry thought that after school he might be able to prise himself away from her side, slowly move away and just fade into the background, use some excuse as to why he didn't want to be with her. But no. The eighth years were back as the war-survivors and Harry was, yet again, forced to be close to her.

In all honesty, Harry loved Hogwarts, and he loved Ginny; as a sister, he just doesn't like the two together. She's special to him, yes, and two years ago he mistook those sibling-like feelings as "love". Harry just didn't like seeing her get together with numerous amounts of men; rather like how Ron felt. He thought that the only way to get around that was to take her away from them, but in retrospect Harry realised that he wasn't angry with _them_. No, he was angry with _her_, for throwing her body around as if it was some slab of meat. Not that there was anything he could do about it _now_. Hindsight is such a useless thing sometimes.

And now she's obsessed with him. He has to reply to her letters within the day he receives them, otherwise she starts having a mental break down and Harry ends up getting an earful from Ron about how he could "at least write a ruddy sentence back, just to shut her up." The only thing is, despite whether he replied within a day or not, his new owl, Mindy, is just not as fast as Hedwig was. Nor is she as directionally gifted. Mindy is a jet-black owl; has lots of courage, but not much foresight, jumping into things before she realises that she can't actually manage the task. Hermione laughed when he told her this; she said it was just like him. Apart from Harry didn't pick his name to have "dragon" as its meaning. Which brings him back to Draco Malfoy; the only dragon he really wished he could have.

Which he couldn't.

Harry sighed; he'd been doing that a lot recently. It'd been worrying Ron and Hermione, Harry's seen them exchange their couples-talk eye glances, knowing exactly what the other wants to say to the other, and understanding completely. It made him feel lonely; made him want someone he could do that with. Harry sighed again.

"Harry?" Harry looked up to see Hermione's worried face as she peered up at him from the seat opposite in the compartment they were sitting in on the Hogwarts Express. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled at her. She glanced over to Ron who was sitting beside him and Harry could tell she didn't buy it. He could practically hear the words forming over the invisible bond they had. "Oh, _get_ a _room_ will you?" He moaned as he watched them exchange small jerks of their heads and twitches of their eyebrows. They looked up at him, Hermione still searching Harry's face, trying to find out what was wrong, Ron grinning sheepishly as the tips of his ears turned pink.

"Sorry, mate." He mumbled as he looked back at Hermione. Harry groaned and dropped his head into one hand and pushed him gently in the back with his other.

"Go sit next to her, I don't care." Ron didn't even give him a second look before leaping up and sitting proudly next to Hermione, draping his arm around her shoulders. Harry appreciated the fact that they tried as hard as they could to act as "just friends" around him, but he wished they knew that he really didn't mind; the only thing that upset him was how seeing their blatant love made him feel more miserable about his unrequited one and that was hardly their fault, was it?

"Are you sure you're alright, Harry?" Hermione asked again, eyes darting from one bespectacled eye to the other and then back again.

"_Yes_ 'Mione, I'm fine, I'm just – tired, is all. I haven't been sleeping well." At this bit of information, Hermione's eyes widened and she leant in to ask in a whisper,

"Are you having nightmares again?" Harry fought not to roll his eyes as he knew that would out his story for what it really was - a lie. Instead he forced a short nod of his head and muttered that he didn't want to talk about it. Hermione smiled understandingly and put a gentle hand on his leg before leaning back into Ron's embrace and slowly drawing patterns on his knee with a finger.

What Harry had said was not completely untrue. He _hadn't_ been sleeping well, and he _had_ been having nightmares, but there was no connection between the two. Instead he had been taking far too long to fall asleep because his head was filled with Draco Malfoy, and then when he _did_ fall asleep the nightmares plagued his sleep; forcing him to relive his death and the deaths of all his other loved ones. His parents, Cedric, Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Moody, even Snape! Image after image would swirl around behind his closed eyelids, morphing and re-morphing into different scenes, each as distressing as the next.

The rattle of the compartment door being opened shook Harry out of his thoughts and shook Hermione out of Ron's grasps. Harry tried not to smirk; it was so _obvious_ that they were going out; he didn't understand why they refused to let anyone other than him know. Harry looked up to see who was standing in the doorway, the smile still playing on his lips instantly fading when he saw who it was. Draco Malfoy.

"Something bothering you, Malfoy?" Ron asked bitterly from the window seat. Malfoy, who had been staring at Harry, looked over to Ron and sneered.

"Something other than having to voluntarily be in the presence of a Weasley, a muggle-born and the Boy-Who-Lived? No_, __nothing's_ bothering me, Weasel." Malfoy spat. Harry seemed to be the only one who noticed how he had called Hermione a "muggle-born" rather than the preferred term "mudblood" he would have used, without hesitation, a year ago. Before Ron could retort Harry interjected with a slightly tired sounding,

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Wearily looking up at him as he felt his heart rate quicken in the same old fashion it always did whenever he was near the blonde-haired beauty, Harry wondered how long this feud had to go on between the two before they could reach a compromise.

Malfoy's gaze turned back to Harry and looked at him expectantly.

"What, no bite from the lion?" He drawled, obviously waiting for Harry to snap and hex him.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Harry rolled his eyes. "But I don't instantly curse someone when they come to see me."

Malfoy huffed indignantly at this, but made no response.

"Well?" Ron asked. Malfoy looked at him.

"Well what?" He snapped.

"Well what did you come here for?" Ron guffawed, "I hardly expect you _forced_ yourself to come into our _presence_ just so you could stare at Harry's face for a while." He continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm. At this both Harry's and Malfoy's faces visibly reddened, though probably for different reasons.

"My wand." Malfoy blurted out ungracefully, turning his attentions back to Harry once again and holding his hand out. "You still have my wand, Potter."

Realisation clicked in Harry's head. He'd never given it back after the war! He didn't get a chance after Malfoy's trial where Harry had given the memory that set him free of all charges, so he'd meant to find Malfoy during the summer, but the Dursley's had put him under house arrest and made it so that Mindy barely managed to stretch her wings every now and then, let alone deliver parcels. Not that Harry would have trusted the directionally challenged bird with something so important anyway. The Dursley's lock up had made it harder to get letters to Ginny as well. Harry cringed as he thought of seeing her again.

A quiet cough brought him out of his stupor and Harry looked up to see Ron, Hermione and Malfoy all looking at him. Harry jumped into action, muttering excuses of not sleeping well and zoning out as he rummaged through the pockets of his robes; he had made sure to keep the wand close by, just in case such a situation that was happening now occurred.

He felt his hand grasp around something long and thin and pulled it out by the tip so he could hold the handle out to Malfoy. Malfoy grabbed the handle hungrily and ran his hands over it when Harry let go, obviously having missed it.

A pang of guilt ran through Harry as he thought about how hard it must have been for Malfoy to go the summer without his wand. Harry had grown up in the muggle world, so he could cope very well for a few months without magic, but Malfoy was part of a long line of purebloods. He didn't know of a world without magic.

"I really am sorry." Harry found himself mumbling almost immediately, "I was going to return it during the summer, truly I was, but - something came up."

"I'm sure." Malfoy sneered, not believing Harry's story. Then he stopped himself from going on, shook his head, stared at the floor as if he was introducing himself to a Hippogriff and said in a low voice that was almost inaudible, "Thanks, Potter." And with that, he whirled around and stalked away in a very Snape-like manner.

"Did what I think just happened, happen?" Ron asked incredulously, breaking the silence. "Draco Malfoy, Slytherin's prince, just thanked Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding World?"

"Stop it, Ronald." Hermione cut in before Harry could, and Ron shot an apologetic look towards Harry as Harry cringed from the title his best friend had just bestowed upon him.

"Sorry, mate." Ron mumbled, "But it's bloody unbelievable, you got to agree."

"Yeah...unbelievable." Harry breathed as he replayed Malfoy's blushing face as he thanked Harry, again and again in his mind. Maybe the compromise Harry had been hoping for wasn't all that far away after all.

Perhaps there was hope.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** So, there goes the first chapter! Please review and tell me if you want more, because I have it! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Thank you for all the alerts and favourites! I also read the reviews and want to thank DazzlexMe and Ada1405 for giving me my first ever reviews! Here's chapter 2, (By the way, this will be an anti-Ginny story. Just a bit of warning) enjoy!**

**Chapter 2.**

As Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they were pleased to notice that nothing had changed despite the war. The high, enchanted ceilings still showed the stormy sky outside, and the four, long house tables were still adorned in golden tableware. All the eighth years took their places at their tables and eagerly awaited the group of first years that were to arrive, excited to see how many new arrivals to their house they would get.

As the first years filed in to the Hall, Professor McGonagall stood up at the podium where Dumbledore stood the last time the trio were there, and made a short speech explaining why there was an extra year group and introducing the first years to the school, mentioning the out-of-bounds Forbidden Forest. It made Harry's heart ache with nostalgia as he remembered being introduced to Hogwarts as an eleven year old, only the head teacher who introduced _him_ had an old and wizened face, a long, silvery white beard and half moon spectacles.

The cry from the Hufflepuff house as they gained a new member made Harry jump out of his thoughts just in time to cheer as Gryffindor received a new bumbling first year as well.

The sorting continued as the particularly large group of eleven year olds slowly dwindled down to the last red-faced child who clambered up onto the stool and sat there, podgy hands clenching his robes in anxiety.

"Hufflepuff!" The sorting hat exclaimed, and the boy slipped off the stool, beaming in earnest, and waddled over to the yellow table that were cheering for all they were worth.

'_That's__ the thing about Hufflepuffs-'_ Harry thought, '_-They're__ endearing; you just can't hate them__.'_

When all the new students were seated, the food started to appear on the tables and excited gasps were heard from all the first years that were from the muggle world; obviously never having been exposed to magic before.

Just as Harry was about to tuck into his meal, he felt someone slide onto the bench next to him and force their arm to link through his, despite his best attempts to keep it flattened to his side. Not wanting to give her the idea that he gave her a special greeting, Harry sat there, still eating, not looking up, and just said,

"Hey Ginny."

"Hi Harry!" She practically shouted back, squeezing his arm into her chest. "I haven't heard from you in _so_ long." She started jabbering away about things that didn't really interest Harry at all. He looked up to Ron and Hermione with a pleading look in his eye, planning on asking them to save him, but was sorely disappointed when he saw them just staring at each other, having a quiet conversation of their own. _'Not__ going out, my arse__!'_ Harry thought, _'They're__ really not doing a good job of pretending they're still 'just friends'__.'_

"Harry? Harry!" Harry jumped as he heard his name being called into his ear. He looked down at Ginny, staring at her creased forehead as she frowned and refusing to meet her eyes. "Harry, look at me when I'm talking to you, _look_ at me." She complained in a whiney voice until Harry was forced to grace her with a look, green eyes meeting brown. Ginny beamed when Harry finally looked her in the eye and then started babbling on again about whatever popped into her head. Eventually it had to end, and as the food was cleared away, Professor McGonagall stood up once again,

"I feel it best to inform you before _some_ students get over excited," She began, looking pointedly at Harry and Ginny. "That the returning eighth years are to be escorted by me to a _separate_ common room and dormitories where they will be able to live out their final year at Hogwarts in peace and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of normal dormitory life." She finished, staring intently at Ginny when she mentioned the _'__hustle and bustle'_. Ginny didn't see, but Harry did, and decided that he would forever be in the debt of this new headmistress, throwing the most grateful looks he could in McGonagall's direction. The new headmistress noticed, and gave Harry a short, curt nod and a small smile in return as she watched him try, and fail, to pull his arm out of the redhead's grasps. She hadn't been sure whether it was a good idea to mingle all the houses together in the eighth years, so this was the first time that she felt relieved she had chosen to do so.

As the rest of the school trudged out of the hall, each and every one of them looking forwards to sitting down in front of the fire and playing a game of Wizard's Chess, or reading a book while curling up on a sofa, McGonagall swept her way down to the small group of eighth years plus Ginny.

"Miss Weasley, I must insist on your departure to your common room." Professor McGonagall chided when she saw that Ginny was still there, clasped onto Harry's side.

"But Professor -" Ginny started, looking up to Harry for help. Harry sighed, looking down at Ginny and said,

"She's right, Gin. It's late." Ginny huffed and puffed at this, but, eventually, she retracted her arm from Harry's and stalked off through the corridors.

"Ginerva and Minerva." Harry heard someone snigger from the back of the group. Apparently McGonagall heard too, for she quipped in a stern voice,

"Mr. Zabini, please do not fail to remember that I am now the head mistress of this school, and can deal out much harsher punishments than point deduction and detentions." At this Harry heard Malfoy laugh as Blaise Zabini instantly shut up and shot a glare in Malfoy's direction. "Now if you are quite done," she paused to receive Zabini's begrudged nod, "I shall lead you to your new quarters." She turned on her heel from where she had been standing, facing the hall, in the doorway and led the group through the winding corridors of Hogwarts to their new dormitories. The feeling of nostalgia that ran through Harry earlier, returned as he felt like a first year again, being led through the castle, wondering at the moving portraits and the moving staircases.

They reached a portrait of a unicorn in a glistening forest and McGonagall paused to say the password before the unicorn whinnied and the portrait swung away from the wall revealing the entrance to their new common room. Seeing the unicorn had brought Harry even further back into his reminiscence of his first year; remembering the detention he had served with Hagrid, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy in the Forbidden Forest. He didn't even notice when everyone else filed in through the hole in the wall.

"You planning on coming in any time soon, Potter?" He heard a slightly high-pitched voice ask with sarcasm. Harry looked up to see Malfoy looking at him expectantly through the portrait hole. "I bet you weren't even listening when McGonagall told us the password, were you?" Harry shook his head and Malfoy snorted through his nose. Harry clambered through the entrance, muttering the same excuses of not sleeping well that he'd used on the train. "Pax." Malfoy said.

"What?" Harry asked.

"The password." Malfoy rolled his eyes as if this was the most obvious thing in the world, "It's pax. It means peace. Obviously the old bat's idea to try and reiterate that we're meant to be living all peacefully now." Harry stared at Malfoy, incredulous and unbelieving that he had helped him. Malfoy, stared back, a much more comfortable green meeting silver. When Malfoy cocked an eyebrow Harry realised that nothing had been said for a good minute. He flushed and almost shouted,

"Thanks." Malfoy looked at him for a bit longer, nodded then went to turn around, but stopped just before he walked off, looked over his shoulder and clarified why he had helped Harry.

"I don't like owing people, Potter." He said, before walking away, leaving Harry to stare after him, longing pounding through his veins.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N****: Here's chapter two! Three will be on its way soon. Please R&R to let me know if you think I can improve on anything or have made some big plot errors etc. Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Thank you for the views and constructive reviews everyone! I'm sorry about the length of the chapters, I tend to write it more for effect than for length, and this one is another short one, but I have every intention to write some longer ones later on in the story, so please bear with me! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3.**

Two days later, when everyone had settled back in to the run of daily school life, the eighth years were enjoying their privilege of having a separate common room and were vegging out, lounging around on the sofas in front of the fire.

The new common room was perfect. It was high in a tower, with a moving spiral staircase that led them up to the portrait of the unicorn. Inside it was adorned in non-committal colours; some from each house so as to not spur on the house rivalry. It had large windows with breath taking views of the grounds in all four directions, and a fireplace with a ring of sofas surrounding it. There were desks at the back where people could do their work, and other forms of seating scattered around. Four doorways led to the bedrooms of the four houses; each having a left and right corridor to walk depending on whether the student was male or female. The common room was always quiet, unless the year, as a whole, decided to make it otherwise.

This evening was such an evening. The year had decided that, as a way of melting back into school life, they should play a mass game of Exploding Snap, using two packs just so everyone could have a decent hand. Hermione had politely refused, choosing to return to her room which she shared with Lavender Brown, where she could write her Charms essay. Despite their original protests at her lack of participation, the year group were soon immersed in their game and had quite forgotten her absence.

Looking up, halfway through one of the rounds, Harry noticed that Malfoy was sitting in the corner by a rain-splattered window, reading a book. Harry looked around and saw the Slytherins of the year in the middle of the crowd of students. Blaise Zabini was serving detention to McGonagall for transfiguring the goblet they were meant to turn into a cage, into an enchanted bear trap that chased the new teacher around the classroom and thoroughly distressed her. Although McGonagall no longer taught Transfiguration, she still felt a certain affinity for the subject, so punished Zabini more than would normally be tolled out. Pansy Parkinson was nowhere to be seen, and Harry doubted if she'd ever returned to the common room that evening at all.

Seeing as Malfoy's two best friends weren't present, Harry figured that none of the other Slytherin's would have had the guts to invite Malfoy to play, lest they were berated by others. Despite being fellow Slytherins, Malfoy was not well-liked due to the acts of his father that made others think that all Slytherins were like him and turned the house into a, generally, despised one.

Not that their attitude did anything to change that. "Once hated, always hated" was their motto, and the Slytherins had an unspoken agreement to not change their behaviour as they thought it would be fighting a lost cause anyway and anything worth putting effort in for had to have a guaranteed reward. This way of thinking had been greatly altered by Harry's defeat of the Dark Lord, and awoke in the eyes of many Slytherins that perhaps fighting a battle that seems futile was not always so. In any case, Malfoy was not an appreciated presence, and Harry felt bad for him for being so blatantly left out.

Once the round was over and the cards were being re-dealt, Harry called over to Malfoy from where he was sitting.

"Hey Malfoy!" He called, Malfoy looked up from the page he was reading, a slightly puzzled look on his face and he moved his hand to where his wand was lying next to him, wondering if he'd need it or not. Potter had been quite civil to him over the past few days, and they hadn't had a fight since the last year they were at school together. Draco guessed it was all part of the 'living in peace' theme of this year and that Potter was trying to play the good Gryffindor and make sure the peace was ensured, but it was still peculiar not having to leap into action every time he heard the Gryffindor call his name.

"Do you want to play?" Harry asked to the groans and eye rolling of his playmates, a bemused smile playing at his lips as he saw Malfoy's eyebrows shoot up to his hairline and his jaw pop open a little. How very…un-Malfoy like it was. After the initial shock of being invited to play, a small dash of hope flashed across the Slytherin's face as he went to close his book and join in the fun. Before he could put his bookmark in place, though, an incredulous Irish accent floated up over the crowd's mumblings.

"Come on, Harry!" Seamus Finnigan called, unbelieving, "Draco Malfoy? Draco _Malfoy_? You've got to be kidding me!"Malfoy paused to see how the situation would play out, quietly shutting his book so he could grab his wand to hex the Irishman or stand to join in the game. "He's made it perfectly clear that he wants nothing to do with us; sitting in the corner like some sort of creep."

"Did anyone here think to _invite_ him to play?" Harry challenged Seamus. Awkward looks and downcast eyes travelled around the group. "I didn't think so." Harry confirmed.

"Seriously, Harry? You're taking _his_ side? You know he'd rather be somewhere else where he has a guarantee of being liked as long as was kissing up to _some__one._" Seamus replied, the implication of Malfoy being a Death Eater hanging heavily on his statement. "Everyone knows he's not welcome here." He finished glaring over at Malfoy.

Harry was surprised at how well Malfoy was handling the situation, and that he hadn't yet hexed Seamus to Azkaban and back. Harry looked over to the blonde, to see a look of pain in his eyes before his pureblood mannerisms took over again and his pride won over the hurt. He held his head high and as he went to pick up his book again Harry heard Seamus mention in a voice, just loud enough for Malfoy to hear, "He's no better than Snape, the greasy haired traitor." At that the Slytherin's head snapped up and he slammed his book shut, his hand diving for his wand. Before it could reach the weapon though, Harry had stood up in the middle of the crowd.

"You don't know _anything_ Seamus. Dumbledore _asked_ Snape to be the one to kill him. Snape was a traitor to no one other than Voldemort himself – oh get _over _it! He's _dead_ already!" Harry shouted when most of the crowd flinched at the sound of You-Know-Who's real name. "The war is over now; everyone deserves to live in peace, just like McGonagall said, so Seamus, just do us all a favour, and shut the fuck up." The room went eerily quiet until Harry heard Malfoy storm out of the portrait hole behind him. Harry looked back at the people in the room; all ashamed and embarrassed faces. "How would _you_ feel if you had been through the same shit Draco Malfoy had to?" He asked the room at large, then followed Malfoy out the common room.

Harry searched for a while, suddenly regretting not having the Marauder's Map on him, and eventually found him in the bathroom on the sixth floor where he had used sectumsempra in their sixth year.

"There are some memories in here, huh?" Harry asked when he saw Malfoy leaning against a sink.

"Ever the saint, eh, Potter?" Malfoy sighed when he saw Harry's reflection in the mirror.

"I meant what I said in there, Malfoy. Everyone needs a little calm and quiet now. We _all_ deserve it." Malfoy searched Harry's face for any hint that he was lying, but all he found was exhaustion.

"It seems like this is the second time I am indebted to you today, Potter." Harry merely smiled tiredly and asked,

"Should we head back? Those guys should be feeling pretty guilty by now." Malfoy smirked, or was it a smile, and nodded. Both boys made their way back, thinking that maybe this eighth year wasn't all that bad of an idea.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N****: There's the third one! This is going so quickly! I'll hopefully have the fourth one up either later tonight (I live in London so it's BST for me here, meaning it's supper time, so maybe some time in the late evening) or tomorrow morning at some point. Thank you for all your support! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** This chapter is so short it almost sickens me to post it (and I personally apologise to DazzlexMe for the length), but, alas and alack, I feel I need to as it connects the story, as is the nature of chapters. I can promise you that the next one is longer (about the same length as chapter 1), but I won't be posting it until morning. Till then, enjoy this snippet of story!**

**Chapter 4.**

Over the next few days, Harry was pleased to note, that the rest of the year started to treat Draco Malfoy with a bit more respect. He himself had also held a few conversations with him and had even made him laugh on one occasion. Harry was on cloud nine. He could finally talk to the boy he loved without having to visit Madame Pomfrey. However, his bubble had to burst at some point, and that day came sooner than he would have preferred. And the needle that came to burst it came in the form of a red-haired menace.

Namely, Ginny.

Harry had managed to successfully avoid Ginny over the first week or so of school, forcing Ron and Hermione to sit on either side of him at meal times (for which he did feel slightly bad for) and making sure that Dean, Neville and (although he hadn't quite forgiven him for how he treated Malfoy, desperate times called for desperate measures) Seamus sat opposite him, creating no space for her to scoot her way into. Harry thought Hermione had noticed, but Ron was too happy with having a non-depressed Harry back that he wasn't at his most observant.

Harry should have realised that, if she didn't catch him at a meal, she would somehow find him in a different way. Which is exactly what she did. She found him in between lessons, as he was walking, laughing with Ron and Hermione as they made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts. She stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of the trio, glaring at Harry.

"Merlin's beard, Ginny!" Ron shouted as he jumped, "Don't scare me like that." Ginny merely turned her cold stare towards Ron until he folded beneath it, took Hermione's hand and led her away, all the while with Harry sending pleading and imploring looks at the back of his head.

"Harry. Potter." Ginny seethed. "Where have you been?"

"Um –" Harry started, but was interrupted.

"Where the _fuck_ have you been? Have you been avoiding me or something?" She asked, the venom in her voice almost becoming physical.

"I've –"

"I'm your _girlfriend_ aren't I? You could at least spend some time _looking_ for me, or reply to my owl!" She was screaming now, and was attracting a small crowd.

"Gin –"

"No, Harry, you listen to _me_." She interjected once again, but before she could carry on, Harry cut across her, becoming angry at her incessant talking.

"No, Ginny_, __you_ are going to listen to _me.__"_ She looked shocked at the betrayal of his silence, but clamped her mouth shut all the same. "I've been – busy, alright? And, if I'm being honest, I don't entirely see why I _should_ find time to spend with you when all you ever do when I see you is talk and talk and talk about yourself. You never ask about me, or my life or my worries or stresses, which hardly makes you the best girlfriend in the world, does it?

And, while we're on the topic, I don't remember ever calling you my girlfriend or leaving you reason to believe that we were together. Yes, I know I said we could pick it up again after the war, but I never said anything on the topic afterwards did I? No. I'm sorry Gin, but we're not a couple. We haven't been since sixth year." Harry knew the last part was harsh, but it needed to be said. She was bordering on psychotic and it wasn't fair to her to be leading her along like he supposed he had been, so he was expecting it completely when a hand came in for his cheek to slap him. What he hadn't been expecting was said hand to be caught before it reached his face.

Harry looked up to see who his saviour was, and met the eyes of his favourite blonde beauty. Having missed her chance, Ginny stormed off and the crowd dissipated at the end of the excitement; seeing Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter together wasn't very odd nowadays, whereas the first time it had happened the stares had been unavoidable.

"Repaying another favour?" Harry asked, smiling lopsidedly at him, his heart beating a mile a minute. Malfoy smirked.

"I may be civil, Potter, but I wouldn't call us friends...yet." The pause at the end made Harry happier than he'd been when he first made Malfoy laugh, despite the confirmation that he was just getting rid of the debt he owed Harry from the Exploding Snap incident. _'He's__ willing to become friends with me__?'_ he thought. Harry beamed even brighter and then swore to himself.

"_Shit__._ DADA! I'm late!" He muttered, before looking up at Malfoy once last time, as if he was considering staying, then, deciding against it, dashed off to the classroom shouting words of gratitude all the way and saying that he'd speak to him later.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N****: So! Harry and Ginny have split in a relatively clean manner, I hope I didn't bash her up too much for those of you that like her. I personally feel that I was quite kind to her, really. ;P Until the morning then! Night!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** So here's the slightly longer chapter 5! I've been trying to make these chapters page upon page length, but it seems that the best I can do is a range of 1,000 to 2,000 words, which, at most, is only about 5 pages. I'm still trying though! Thank you for the reviews (I'll reply to them in a minute) and enjoy!**

**Chapter 5.**

It seemed that that 'later' came sooner than Harry expected, namely, after DADA, in potions. After Severus Snape's death, the school had hired a flamboyant wizard to fill in as his replacement. It made a nice change for Harry who had always been on the receiving end of Snape's temper, but equally, the cheery state of Professor Merryboat didn't exactly fit in with the solemn atmosphere of the dungeons. Not that he let that get in his way. He was a complete and utter McGonagall fan and so, for the rest of the year, he had decided to take a page out of her book and work on the whole 'peace and unity between the houses' theme.

It was because of this that Harry got a chance to talk to Malfoy sooner than expected, as Professor Merryboat placed the Gryffindor/Slytherin pairs together, putting Harry with Malfoy.

Two years ago both Harry and Malfoy alike would have profusely and vehemently refused to sit anywhere near one another and the professor would only place them together at the risk of having their classroom blown up, but having talked and reached some sort of mutual understanding, the two were almost anticipating being placed next to each other. It was because of this vague hope that Malfoy let slip a smile when Harry sat down next to him, though he quickly corrected that when he felt himself blush when Harry smiled back, slinging his rucksack from over his shoulder.

"You should smile more often." Harry remarked. Malfoy blushed even more, but rolled his eyes and answered coolly,

"You aren't going to tell me something like it brings out my eyes, are you Potter?"

"I won't if you don't want me to." Harry replied, "But it does." He added quickly, and before Malfoy could talk back, Professor Merryboat had cut across him and started talking to the class.

"Right boys and girls, today we are going to make love potions." He announced much to the squealing of girls and moaning from boys. Merryboat looked over to Harry and Draco, the latter of which was still slightly pink in the face. He caught their attention and winked at them, causing Harry to flush and Draco's blush to be renewed.

"If you will turn to page 239 in your books and start gathering the ingredients…" Merryboat's voice faded out into the background as Harry pulled out his Half-Blood Prince's version of Advanced Potion-Making and flipped through to page 239. He looked over to Malfoy who was flicking through his own copy. He grinned and narrowed his eyes conspiringly and tapped his Slytherin partner on the arm. He looked up, confused at Harry's expression.

"What?" He asked.

"How good are you at keeping secrets?" Harry murmured, leaning in close to Malfoy so he could hear. Draco's interest was piqued and he also leaned in, glancing around him to make sure no one was close enough to eavesdrop.

"It depends what the secret is." He almost whispered, his voice slightly gravelly. Harry felt his heart leap and his breath hitch in his throat and used the excuse of turning round to get his book off the bench so he could calm himself down. He turned back round to find his face only an inch or two away from Malfoy's as he had leant in further to see what Harry was doing. Harry could feel his crotch reacting as he felt Draco's breath on his mouth. Harry blushed and mumbled a bit, a smirk playing on Malfoy's mouth as he noticed his effect on the red-faced Gryffindor. He leant in and put his mouth up to Harry's ear and whispered "So? What's the secret?" Harry gulped and thrust the book in Malfoy's face.

"This." He choked out.

"A potions book. Really." Malfoy commented flatly, moving away from Harry, obviously disappointed.

"Snape's potions book." Harry reaffirmed. "Got it back in sixth year." Draco's eyes glistened at the mention of Snape's name. Harry flipped it open to the love potion's page, showing the annotations of the Half Blood Prince. "If we follow these I guarantee the potion will turn out better."

"You got this back in sixth year?" Draco asked, Harry nodded. "That was when you were amazing at potions. With Slughorn." Harry had the grace to smile bashfully.

"Well, you know, when the resources are there…" Malfoy smirked.

"How very Slytherin of you." Harry looked up, a gleam in his eye,

"Funny you should mention that." He said, a wicked look on his face.

"What?" Malfoy asked, interest piqued again.

"Stick around with me and you might just find out." Harry grinned and stood to get the ingredients needed to make the love potion. When he returned Draco gave him an imploring look, but Harry didn't budge on his decision. Realising this, Draco gave in and started to crush the beans with the flat of the knife rather than slice and squeeze them like the regular book suggested, following his godfather's instructions.

Predictably they finished first, despite their late start, Hermione close behind them with Blaise Zabini. The smell wafted up into the boys noses. To Harry it smelt of mint, broomstick varnish and an elegant sort of cologne, making a comforting concoction of smells. To Malfoy it smelt of fresh air and newly cut grass, woods and the general outdoors, reminding him of flying, of being free. They both sighed in unison as they felt the warmth spread through their bodies at the potion's wafts of pink smoke.

"Oh boys, my boys! Wonderful! Marvellous!" Professor Merryboat swept over to the pair and leant over the cauldron to check the potion. "20 points to each of your houses!" He positively beamed. Harry smiled back at him, Draco merely shrugged. "Now boys, I shouldn't be doing this," Professor Merryboat leant in and spoke with a hushed voice, "but seeing as you finished _so_ quickly and your potion is so _sublime_, I think it would be a waste to just…magic it away once you'd made it, so…" He pulled out two small, empty vials from his robes and handed one to each boy. Harry grinned even wider, but Malfoy cocked his eyebrow,

"And what, pray tell, am I meant to do with _this_?" he asked. Professor Merryboat winked in return and said,

"Oh, I don't know…use it on someone who has caught your affections recently?" his eyes flicked over to Harry for a split second; not long enough for the Gryffindor to notice, but long enough for the Slytherin to understand whom he was talking about. Malfoy's eyes widened in realisation, and he spluttered a bit but Professor Merryboat had already turned around and was walking away waving his hand over his shoulder and calling out exaggeratedly, "Oh how good it is to be young!"

"Malfoy?" Harry drew Malfoy's attention back to him.

"What?" Malfoy spat, a bit harsher than he would have preferred.

"Steady on. I was just wondering if you're okay, you were giving him some serious daggers there."

"What?" Malfoy repeated, more gently this time, genuinely curious. "Daggers?" He asked, looking at the knife that was lying next to him on the workbench. "Why would I give Merryboat a dagger?" His brow was furrowed in confusion and he was pouting slightly. Laughing because of his expression, Harry replied,

"It's a Muggle expression. It means you were glaring at him."

"Oh." Malfoy reddened in embarrassment, but covered it up with his signature sneer and drawled, "Trust Muggles to come up with such a moronic saying," He sniffed, "They are so obsessed with such an unbecoming form of weaponry." If Malfoy hadn't have still had the remnants of a blush across his high cheek bones, Harry would have snapped back with a witty reply defending the Muggles, but instead chose to just smirk at him and wave his hand with a dismissive,

"Sure, whatever, Malfoy." And then carefully scooped up some of the love potion they had made into his vile and sealed it with a cork, reinforcing the cork with a sealing charm to make sure it didn't burst open in his bag. He could see Malfoy in his peripheral vision looking put out by his lack of reaction, but he chose not to comment on it and instead just looked over at him and asked, "Well? You going to take any or not? If not, I'll take your share." Malfoy looked at him, eyes narrowed.

"You have someone you can use it on?" He asked suspiciously.

_'Yes__. You.__'_ Harry thought, before shaking the thought from his mind with a shake of his head as well. "No, I wouldn't stoop to such a low level to get someone to return my feelings. They wouldn't be real. Real feelings are the only type I want. If I can't get them, then I'll deal with it." Harry could hear the hurt in his voice in his last sentence, and suspected Malfoy could too, if his now slits of eyes were anything to go by. "Besides, there's always some desperate first or second year that would be more than willing to buy one." He joked, covering his slip up, giving Malfoy a wicked grin.

"Oh, of _course_, _any_ one would be willing to buy off of the great Harry Potter, Saviour of the Wizarding World."Malfoy drawled in response. It was Harry's turn to narrow his eyes this time.

"Don't call me that." He said harshly. Malfoy looked ready to argue, and had his mouth open and everything, his brain having already long formulated what he was going to say, but he seemed to think better of it as he slowly shut his mouth and took a different approach. He shrugged.

"Still. If the Weasley twins hadn't been in Gryffindor then I would have suspected your actions to be even more Slytherin than you withholding that book." He said, nodding in the direction of Harry's open Potions book. "Selling to younger years seems so Wizard's Wheezes."

Harry smiled sadly at the mention of his, virtually, elder brothers. After Fred's death in the war, George had never quite seemed complete again. He was still making products, in the interests of his customers, but without Fred the shop had lost half of its zeal and zest for life. The flat above the main shop was rendered half empty, still with two beds in the bedroom, but one of which remained messy and unmade to this day, last touched by Fred before he left for battle. Harry didn't think that George would ever manage to make that bed again. He had lost his other half, his other twin. The bonds between twins were deeper than Harry could ever manage to hope to form with any life partner he may meet, and he couldn't even fathom them being broken, and by a death, no less.

"Potter?" Malfoy's voice wrenched Harry out of his reverie,

"Hm? Sorry, I missed what you said." Malfoy gave him a weird look, half-confused, half-concerned.

"I didn't _say_ anything. You just stopped…stopped….I don't know, you just stopped." He said, obviously struggling to describe how Harry stopped as Harry hadn't been speaking or moving during Malfoy's comments.

"Oh. Sorry." Harry replied shortly.

"Don't apologise." Malfoy huffed, looking adamantly at the cauldron that was still bubbling away, despite the fire being doused, the mother of pearl bubbles erupting and wafting the pink smoke up and out of the rim to float around the classroom. "Just – just tell me when I upset you, alright?" He barked, "I'm trying to do…less of that now. Now that we're being civil towards one another." Harry just stared at him in disbelief and amazement. This _was_ Malfoy he was talking to, right? Slowly, he nodded his consent, and then, realising that Malfoy wouldn't see it as he was being so stubborn about not looking anywhere in Harry's general direction, he answered,

"Ur, yeah. Okay." The silence stretched on for a minute or two until Malfoy looked up, eyes narrowed again as he looked at Harry. This continued for a minute as well, as Harry looked away, feeling naked under Malfoy's gaze. "What?" He asked, eventually breaking the silence that had surrounded the two.

"That includes what just happened." When Harry just looked at him, confused, Malfoy sighed and continued. "I obviously upset you in some way when I mentioned the Weasley brothers. I want you to tell me how." Visible realisation dawned on Harry as he understood both what Malfoy was asking, but also that he was trying to build a relationship with Harry. He was setting the foundations for what was an honest and open companionship, something that they had both lacked in their lives; Malfoy, because all his friends were Slytherin, and Harry, because all his friends cared too much about hurting his feelings to be truthful with him. "Well?" Malfoy pushed, looking at Harry expectantly.

"It's Fred." Harry said, lowering his voice so Ron wouldn't hear from his workstation two rows behind his and Malfoy's. "Fred Weasley, he…he died. In the war. George hasn't been the same since." Harry rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He hadn't talked to anyone about his feelings after the war, especially not about Fred seeing as most of the people he could talk to were Weasley's themselves. It felt every bit as uncomfortable as he had expected, though this was eased slightly by the fact that Malfoy had never deemed the Weasley's worthy enough to acquaint himself with, and talking about it with someone who didn't know them like Harry did, and wouldn't burst into tears at the mention of them, helped somewhat.

"Oh. My condolences for your loss Potter." Malfoy said slowly, gradually reaching the conclusion that Harry was the sort who became incredibly awkward when asked to open up to others and figuring the textbook reply was the safest. "I apologise for bringing the topic up." Harry nodded and graced Malfoy with a grateful smile, the remainder of the lesson passing in a semi-awkward, semi-comfortable silence.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N**: **Chapter 6 will be up very soon, I just want to eat my breakfast first ;P Thank you for your reviews (again)!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Smut warning for the beginning of this scene! Here's chapter 6, another slightly longer one, and another non-cliffhanger ending. Don't worry, cliffhangers will be coming soon, but for now I'm being nice =D Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6.**

_It was bedtime throughout the castle. The torches were burning low in the corridors, the fire in the eighth year's common room was all but cinders, the smouldering remains of what once was a great fire. Harry had retired to his room a few hours ago to finish his Potions homework on the different types, effects and cures of love potions, Ron, his roommate, had disappeared at some point to be with Hermione. What they were doing together didn't bear thinking about. Harry shuddered at the thought of it._

_And then came the knock. It was so quiet, Harry was sure he had imagined it, but when it came again, a little louder and insistent this time, Harry looked up from his parchment, put down his quill and moved to the bedroom door cautiously, wand at the ready. Ron wouldn't knock. Hermione wouldn't knock. Seamus, Dean and Neville wouldn't knock._

_So who would?_

_Slowly he opened the door to find Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway. His platinum hair was shining dully like he had a torch just behind his head, or a personal moon that followed him round and shone on his hair in the most beautiful and perfect way. Somewhere in his mind, Harry was aware that he should be asking Malfoy what he was doing here at this time of night, and dressed only in pyjama trousers, but all thoughts of an explanation were pushed forcefully from his mind the moment he felt Malfoy's long fingers stroke up the outside of Harry's arm, and snake around to the back of his neck._

_Harry gulped and looked back at Malfoy. He tried to say something, but his mouth fell open, useless, when he met Malfoy's silver stare. He vaguely recognised Malfoy's other arm snaking around his neck as well as he stepped into the room and shut the door, but his face was so close to Malfoy's now that he was finding it hard just to breathe, rather than think coherent thoughts._

_It would be so easy to just close the short distance between them._

_It seemed Malfoy had the same idea, as he gently tugged on Harry's neck, inviting him closer. Harry leaned up as Malfoy continued to gently pull him in. He knew he was close when he saw Malfoy's eyes flutter shut, and his did the same, by instinct. The silence of the castle around them was pressing on Harry's eardrums, an invisible pressure urging him forwards, to break the spell._

_And then his lips were on Malfoy's soft ones, and Malfoy's were moving below his, his tongue flicking out to slowly trace Harry's bottom lip, asking for permission to enter. Harry gave it without hesitation, his mouth opening only to engulf Malfoy's tongue. He moaned into the kiss when the tongue lazily stroked his, and the silence was shattered._

_Harry slipped his arms around Malfoy's neck, pulling him in close, as Malfoy moved his to Harry's waist. Then Malfoy moved one hand up to his hair, tugging his head into a new angle gruffly, so he could have better access. He then attacked Harry's mouth with his tongue, the battle for dominance being quickly won as Harry went limp beneath him, melting into his arms and pressing his chest against Malfoy's. Harry gripped __Draco's__ back, and tugged on __him__ hard, moving backwards and pulling Draco with him, urging him to move towards the bed. At the thought of this, Draco moaned, the sound swallowed by Harry's mouth, wanting more, __needing__ more. He moved the arm that was still around Harry's waist down, cupping his arse and fondling it, eliciting delicious noises from the boy. __Harry__ yanked Draco's hips forwards, crushing their throbbing erections against each other. The moan emitted by Malfoy was in no way hidden as he threw his head back and groaned, hands fisting Harry's shirt. Harry begun to rub himself against Draco, moaning quietly at the friction and the mewls that Draco was letting out, all thoughts of getting to the bed forgotten._

_Then, without a word, Malfoy pulled himself away from Harry, despite Harry's whimpers of protest with the pressure, friction and heat lost from his arousal. Instead of leaving though, Malfoy dropped to his knees, and stroked Harry's tenting erection through his sleep trousers, slowly hooking his fingers through the waistband and pulling them down, letting the fabric rub against his cock. At the moan this drew from Harry, Draco leant in and ghosted his breath over Harry, breathing warm air onto the throbbing member, and then lewdly licking the vein on the underside from bottom to top before sliding his tongue around the head teasingly. Harry's hands found his way to Draco's hair and yanked his head forwards roughly, shoving his shaft deep into Malfoy's mouth while Malfoy flat-tongued it, bobbing his head gently, taking more and more in until he was forced to swallow as the head touched his gag-reflex at the back of his mouth._

_Harry knew he was close, and was letting out moan after moan, gently rocking his hips into the wet, soft cavern that was surrounding his erection. And then Malfoy did something amazing and wonderful and hummed around Harry's cock, drawing the orgasm from him as he shot cum out in rockets, thrusting desperately into Draco's mouth, snapping his hips forwards, and crying out in pleasure –_

"Harry! Harry, wake up, it's just a dream, Harry, mate, wake up!" Ron was shaking Harry's shoulders as his friend's eyes snapped open and sat up straight in bed, panting heavily, hair plastered to his forehead by sweat. "Harry, you okay?" Ron asked, concerned for his best friend.

"Yeah." Harry said after a pause, "Yeah I am, sorry."

"It's no problem, you were just moaning loads is all. It must've been a bad one." Ron said in sympathy.

"Ur yeah, it was, um, it was about…the potion's homework. I haven't finished it yet and it's due in tomorrow." Harry lied, fishing for something and picking the only non-sexual part of the dream he could remember.

"Shit! I haven't done it either!" Ron said, leaping away from Harry and rummaging around in a pile of papers near his bed, searching for the right one. He looked up at Harry imploringly. "Are you going to stay up and do it now, too?" He asked. Harry, feeling the evidence of why he couldn't get out of bed, even if he hadn't finished the homework, clinging to his pyjama bottoms, shook his head.

"No, I think I'll try to get back to sleep, I need all I can get." Ron nodded curtly before turning back to his parchment and scribbling vehemently.

Harry reached for his wand on his bedside table and cast a wordless cleaning charm on himself, before rolling back over and falling instantly asleep, dreaming of nothing this time other than a floating piece of parchment with names of love potions scrawled across it.

* * *

><p><strong>Reunion Ball<strong>

**Friday 24th September**

**Black Tie**

**6.00pm – Midnight**

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Ron groaned as he saw the notice that was pinned up in the common room. "A _ball_? Why the fuck do we need a 'reunion' ball? We're bloody living with each other; we've already _been_ reunited!" There was a general murmur of agreement throughout the crowd surrounding them.

"For your information, _Ronald_, it's for sixth years and above. It's not just our year; we are being reunited with the _other_ years as well. And before you ask, it's mandatory." Hermione stated chidingly as she entered the room to see everyone's disdainful expressions.

"Oh great, just what I need." Harry muttered under his breath, "An excuse to be within 5 metres of Ginny." He heard someone snigger next to his ear and looked around to see Malfoy smirking at him.

"Not happy with your girlfriend, eh Potter?" Blushing at seeing Malfoy so early in the morning after his dream, Harry pretended to be flushing in anger and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Shove off Malfoy. You were there, you _know_ there's nothing between us." Malfoy widened his eyes in mock innocence and replied,

"But I thought your love affair was as fiery and passionate as her hair!" His smirk returned and he added, "Well, at least that's how it seemed from _her_ behaviour." Harry just rolled his eyes as the crowd dispersed and started to make his way to breakfast, Malfoy following him.

"In any case, I'm going to have to find someone to go with, and soon. I don't want to be on the receiving end of Ginny's bat bogey hex when I reject her invitation."

"Hmmm." Malfoy hummed, "No friends, Potter? No other love interests?" Harry shot him a slightly pained look that made Draco think that he should know more than he did.

"No love interests, no. And as for friends, they're all partnered up already. No one who's close enough to me to go as 'just friends' is single. What about you? Astoria Greengrass would chop off a leg to get to go with you." Malfoy grimaced at the truth of this statement.

"Astoria's pretty, but she's fake. Shallow." Harry's eyebrows raised high as he asked,

"I thought that was part of the Slytherin job description?" Malfoy rolled his eyes this time and responded,

"And being brutally honest is part of Gryffindor's?" Harry shrugged,

"A bit of honesty doesn't hurt."

"Exactly." Malfoy nodded, as if proving a very important point in his argument. When Harry looked at him with no hint of understanding on his face, he sighed and elaborated, "Slytherin's are only fake because the majority can do nothing but lie. It's a competition to see who has the better and more interesting life. Astoria is fake because she lies. Honesty would make a lot of difference to Slytherin. But it would also remove the secrecy. And a bit of secrecy doesn't hurt either." Harry picked up on his point, and as he was about to reply a pretty brunette appeared at his side.

_'Speak__ of the devil and the devil shall appear__.'_ Harry thought.

"You called?" Astoria Greengrass asked Malfoy, touching his arm in what Harry considered was a completely inappropriate and unnecessary manner. To his elation, Malfoy jerked away so violently that he bumped into Harry on his other side, and then _their_ arms were touching instead. And Malfoy didn't move away. Ignoring this, Astoria ploughed on, "So…the reunion ball, huh? Got anyone to go with?" She fluttered her long eyelashes up at him sickeningly. Despite the jealousy that was clutching at Harry's stomach, he couldn't help but laugh loudly at the look on Malfoy's face. He looked like he had swallowed a whole pack of vomit flavoured Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans, and wasn't bothering to hide the look of disgust that played upon his beautiful features. Malfoy jabbed him in the ribs at his exclamation, but let his arm drop back down to stay in contact with Harry's.

"Uh, yeah, um, I'm – I'm going with…" Harry could see that Malfoy was visibly searching for a name, and snorted. Malfoy glared at him and then his expression lit up. "_Harry_." He finished.

"What?" Harry and Astoria asked at the same time. Malfoy shot a warning look at Harry and Astoria narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, _Draco_, just as friends, though, right?" Harry acted, continuing with the first name basis, looping his arm through Malfoy's, heart beating as hard as a Hippogriff's wings.

"Yeah. As friends, Harry. As you can see, Astoria, I already have a…date. Harry doesn't have a friend he can go with because they're all taken, but he doesn't want to get bombarded by fan girls, so we're going as friends together."

"Really." She asked, deadpan. Harry and Malfoy looked at each other and came to a mutual understanding.

"Yes." They both said. Astoria harrumphed, flicked her hair, and stalked away. The moment she had walked around the corner, Harry slid his arm out from through Malfoy's and sniggered,

"Well Malfoy. It looks like my problem is solved, though it looks like yours are only just starting." Malfoy rolled his eyes but still let his arm hang by his side, brushing Harry's every now and then. Harry grinned, "It was nice being on first name terms while it lasted." At this Malfoy laughed.

"Yes, it didn't feel quite as disgusting on my tongue as I expected it to." Harry eyed him through the corners of his eyes,

"Doesn't mean we have to stop now, does it?" He smiled crookedly, the him under the surface tense and preparing for rejection.

"No. No it doesn't. In fact, I'd quite like it if we continued, it works with the being 'civil' thing." Malfoy wondered aloud, smiling faintly at the idea. Harry's heart almost leapt out his throat, but he covered it smoothly with,

"We're _friends_ now…Draco." Ma-_Draco_, smiled more widely at this and subtlely let his fingers graze over Harry's and despite the complete lack of acknowledgement from Draco, Harry was certain that it was purposeful.

Friends, first names, dates and now inconspicuous flirting. Maybe this ball was beginning to look a little bit more attractive than before.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N****: Ta-daa! A nice new opening for Ginny to go psycho during! (don't worry, she doesn't go **_**that**_** psycho, she's just made some…'wise purchases'.) All will be revealed in good time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Here's chapter 7! I'm sorry for the long wait, I went to see the latest Harry Potter with a friend and her family, then went over to another friend's house, so I only just got back home. But, to be loyal to you, I sat down on my laptop and instantly went back to fanfic. It's like it's calling me ;P Enjoy!**

**Chapter 7.**

"Harry, _please_, just take it! It'll make a world of difference, so please. If not for us then for yourself!" Hermione was trying to coax Harry into making taking a dreamless sleep potion part of his nightly routine. Recently he had been having more and more nightmares (with a few Malfoy dreams as well) and he hadn't been able to have more than two hours of sleep without waking up screaming. Admittedly, it was probably annoying Ron by disrupting _his_ sleep every two hours as well, but as of a few nights ago, Harry had made sure to put up strong silencing charms around his four-poster, so there shouldn't be a problem now.

Or at least that was what he thought.

According to Hermione, it didn't matter that he wasn't bothering anyone else, it was the fact that he was still having them that worried her.

"No. I won't start taking a potion every night for what is most likely a permanent problem."

"But _why, _Harry? Why not?" Hermione asked exasperatedly. "If you can't stop having nightmares the normal way, then this is the only solution left!" Ron, who was staying silent at her side, nodded his head furiously. Harry could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him, and he relished in the thought of finally releasing some of his pent up anger.

"And _what_ is the 'normal' way, Hermione? Please tell me, because I obviously don't know, else I would have tried it by now."

"Well," She began, obviously preparing her speech, "_normally_, the cause of a dream or nightmare is due to the dreamer's subconscious, meaning that your emotions are a large factor of what you dream about and how you dream it. _Normally,_ the way to overcome said problem to overcome those feelings." She paused, "What I'm suggesting Harry, is that you talk about it. You never had a chance before with Cedric – " Harry winced at the mention of his name, "With Cedric, you couldn't talk about it because the Ministry didn't believe that Voldemort had come back. But with the others, you can talk about it. You _know_ you can. If not with us, there are post-war help lines that you could talk to." Anger was welling up within Harry and he knew he couldn't hold it in any longer. The final straw was when Ron looked up at him with pity in his eyes and nodded in agreement again.

"No, Hermione, I _don't_ know that." Harry spat. "In fact, I know that I _can't_. It's exactly what I can't do. You, you had Ron, and Ron, you had Hermione. You guys could talk to each other about the deaths, you two could cry on each other's shoulders. Me? Who the fuck could I talk to? Everyone I know has lost someone in the war, _everyone_. They all had to do their own grieving, with what was left of their families. I don't _have_ a family to talk to. In case you forgot, Voldemort took all of them away from me. The only family I _could_ talk to were handling their own grief, they didn't need mine, too. They needed my condolences, but they didn't need my problems.

And help lines would do fuck all. Talking to some stranger who knows squat about me and my life other than what's in the papers, them pretending to be sympathetic while they sit there thinking that at least their lives are better than the fucked up person they're talking to? Yeah, if I need pity then I don't need to look any further than you two.

I'm not a kid, Hermione. I can take care of myself. Maybe, maybe once I did need to talk about it. But back then, no one was there for me to talk to. That time has passed. I'll deal with it on my own. I'm used to it. Being abandoned is something you get used to when it happens enough. That's a concept that I'm afraid neither of you would be able to fathom.

I'm not annoying anyone at night anymore, and I am _not_ going to rely on some potion every day of my life, just so I can sleep. I can work off of a few hours sleep just fine. So kindly shut the fuck up and piss off." He vented, his voice low with anger and the air humming with poorly contained magic. When he felt a hand on his arm he almost snapped again, and had already whipped his wand out, ready to hex the balls off of the person who was touching him, but stopped and lowered his wand when he saw who it was. Draco. The look in Draco's eyes wasn't that of pity. It was understanding. A sad sort of understanding.

It was at that moment that Harry realised that perhaps the person who could understand him the most was Draco Malfoy. They were so opposite, yet so similar. Each had lost family members to the war, Lucius having been sentence to the Dementor's kiss, each had lost a part of themselves during the war, each had been made to fight with no other choice; the burden of other people's lives weighing heavily on their shoulders. Each had never had the chance to talk about how they felt.

Draco had pride, he had his mother to look after and he had his family name to restore. He couldn't open up to anyone, he wouldn't let himself seem so weak. Harry had pride, he had the rest of the world to look after and he had his mental state to restore. He couldn't open up to anyone, he wouldn't let himself seem so selfish. Both had yet to adapt back into normal everyday life, both expecting someone to come out of nowhere and curse them at any minute.

It seemed that everyone else had melded back in to the day-to-day life of school, work, friends, Hogsmeade trips…they had been left behind.

And only them.

It was them against the rest of the population.

Draco, Draco Malfoy, _understood_.

Harry heard Ron snarl in the background when he saw Draco. He couldn't stand Harry's newfound friendship with the blonde, refusing to see Draco as a human after what his father and his Lord did to his family, and after all the taunting that Draco had given him over the years. Normally he wasn't vocal about his feelings in front of Draco himself, but after the speech that Harry had just given, his emotions were not very restrained.

"Malfoy, take your hand the _fuck_ off of his arm." He growled, wand already out and ready to fire. Harry felt his anger peak at the threat of having his best friend break the delicate relationship he had with the only other person in the world who could understand him. Rising and rising and rising, the blood boiled in his veins and then everything bleached.

His vision was clouded and white, movements barely visible as the white blinded most of his vision. He heard people screaming, and he saw people running around, bright white shapes moving to duck beneath larger white shapes. People were calling his name, telling him to stop.

Stop what? He didn't even know what was happening, so what was he meant to stop? Was someone attacking them? Was he meant to be stopping them, saving everyone? But there were so many people. So many voices calling for him. He blocked them out of his mind, shaking his head and vaguely recognising the sound of his own voice screaming in…in what? Agony? Anger? Why was he screaming? Was he being hurt? What was going _on_?

"Harry James Potter, stop it right now."

Everything was normal again. The colours were back. People weren't screaming. He wasn't screaming. People were emerging from under the sofas they'd hidden under. No one was attacking them. Someone was gripping his shoulders and looking him straight in the eyes. He tried to focus in on the person, but his glasses weren't on his face and he couldn't see properly. He recognised the blonde hair though and slowly asked,

"Draco?" He winced as his throat hurt to talk, his voice coming out like gravel. "What just happened?" Something in Malfoy's expression changed, but Harry couldn't see what it was through the blur of his unfocused eyes.

"You went ape-shit." He replied simply.

"Me? It was me? But, but I couldn't see anything, I thought – I thought someone was attacking us, and I had to stop them, but I couldn't see anything, so I didn't know what to do, I couldn't _see_." Harry cried. "Where are my glasses?" He asked, looking around as if it might help somewhat.

"Here." Malfoy said, pushing the frames into Harry's palm. "Everything around you was blowing up, and I thought that having glasses shatter on your face wouldn't be a good idea in case the shards went in your eyes." Harry nodded and pushed them onto his face and grimaced as he looked around him.

All forms of decoration were ruined. Ornaments were shattered, tables and chairs were overturned, people were hiding and eyeing him cautiously, Ron and Hermione looked terrified. He was guessing that he had exploded worse than usual to make them look so afraid, they had, after all, witnessed some of his more worse rages.

"You were clawing yourself, mate." Ron said quietly, but it travelled loud and clear across the now silent room. Harry looked down at himself to see clear nail marks on his arms, blood slowly seeping from the deep wounds he had caused himself. His own shirt lay in torn shreds around his feet, more bleeding scratch wounds on his chest.

"Yeah. And I wonder who it was that managed to get me so mad in the first place." Harry said, flatly, looking pointedly at the couple. They had the grace to look sheepish.

"Look, Harry – "

"No, Hermione. I'd rather not hear it right now." Harry interrupted. "I'm sorry, everyone." He called to the room at large. "I need to cool off. I'm sure the house-elves will be along soon to do something about the mess. I would do it myself, but I really don't trust my control right now." From the furtive nods around the room, Harry guessed that they didn't trust him either and would rather have him out, than trying to do magic anywhere near them any time soon. Draco replaced his hand onto Harry's wrist and nodded his head in the direction of the portrait hole. Harry nodded stiffly and crossed the room in 5 seconds flat, yearning to get away from the mess he'd caused. When they were out in the corridor Harry looked around disdainfully.

"Where to now?" He asked.

"Bathroom." Draco replied. When Harry cocked a quizzical eyebrow at him he said, "We need to clean your cuts and heal them. Unless you want to go to Pomfrey and explain to her, which will get McGonagall involved and then – "

"Yeah, okay, I got it." Harry cut in. "Bathroom it is."

They made their way along the corridors of the castle, Harry hiding behind Draco to conceal himself from anyone they passed, Draco still holding Harry's wrist in his hand as if he were a kid that was going to run away at any point and needed to be kept close in case he got lost. Normally Harry would have protested to the condescending connotations in that grip, but, seeing as it was the closest he was ever going to get to holding hands with him, he decided to let it go.

They reached the sixth floor bathroom that was the closest to the tower they were staying in and slipped inside unnoticed.

"We always seem to come back here, don't we?" Harry murmured, looking around his surroundings that were becoming all too familiar. Draco sniggered and moved over to the stalls to grab some loo roll and dampen it in the sinks. He moved over to Harry and held out his hand expectantly.

"Give me your arm. I'd rather not have to use any more magic than is necessary in case it goes wrong because of your magic, which you are still doing a crap job at containing by the way. A healing charm's the only thing I want to risk." Harry grimaced,

"Sorry, I've always been crap at it. I blew my aunt up once, bloated her to an even more grossly huge size than she already was. She floated away during tea." Draco looked at Harry's expression for one second before bursting out into fits of laughter, having to clutch at the sink for support. Harry frowned disapprovingly, "It's not _that_ funny. I was seriously worried that I'd be done in for underage magic. It was only because the Ministry was worried that I'd be killed that year because Sirius had escaped and they still thought he killed my parents – " Harry stopped when he heard Sirius' name come out of his mouth. Draco had started to swab gently at the cuts on Harry's arms sometime during Harry speaking, still snickering under his breath. He paused and looked up when Harry stopped, all signs of laughter gone. Then said very slowly as if he were calculating every word he spoke,

"You know, I don't think Granger was completely wrong." At the look on Harry's face he hastily continued, "I think it might help, y'know, to talk about those sorts of things." After considering the things Draco said, with a calm and rational mind, Harry realised that he was probably right. He conceded this point silently with a sigh. Draco continued to look at him and added quietly, "If you don't want to talk to Granger or Weasley, but you don't want to talk to a complete stranger either, then I don't mind if you want to talk to me." He paused. When Harry didn't reply, he flushed and went back to scrubbing Harry's wounds, "Not that you have to of course, I'd completely understand if you didn't want to, I know we've hardly been on good terms until recently and it's hard to overcome past prejudice, but the option's there if you – "

"Draco." Harry interrupted. Draco fell silent. "I'd love to." He said, watching as Draco, almost comically, looked up with saucer-wide eyes. Wondering how far he could go with this, Harry ploughed on. "I think you're the one person I would _want_ to talk to about this stuff. You're the only one who I think would understand. Understand the situation. Understand me." He was acutely aware that Draco was now dabbing absentmindedly at the scratches on his bare chest, while still looking at Harry and leaning in close to hear his quiet words. "I think we've both realised that we had the wrong impression of the other person all along." Draco's hand was now limp on Harry's chest, and he was so impossibly close to Harry's face that Harry could feel the warmth of his breath on his lips. "I'm really glad that I've got to know you, Draco. It means that I could start a relationship like none I've had before." He finished, looking Draco in his half-lidded eyes. He decided that if Draco hadn't moved away in the next 5 seconds then he would breach the distance and kiss him right there in the bathroom.

"Relationship…" Draco repeated under his breath. Then, more firmly, he said, "Friendship." He began to clean Harry's wounds again and moved his face back down to look at what he was doing. "We're friends now. _Friends_."

Harry cursed himself internally at his choice of words. He had been so _close_ to overcoming the 'just friends' barrier, and he had ruined it with his wording. But now he knew that at least Draco wasn't completely opposed to starting a relationship with another man. And that he wasn't completely opposed to starting a relationship with Harry.

Now that he knew this, though, Harry couldn't help realise just how much he wanted Draco. It was different when he thought it was merely a fantasy. Now it was a possibility he was struggling to stop himself from opening his mouth and confessing his feelings. That was, until Draco efficiently finished cleaning this cuts, healed them with a flick of his wand and left the bathroom before Harry could even start on his loving and moving confession.

He was alone in a bathroom with only the bloodied remains of toilet paper to remember the past few minutes by.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** Ooooh rejection! Burn baby burn! What **_**will**_** happen next? Let me eat my supper and you'll find out ;P**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Warning of Ginny bashing! (or at least making her seem obsessed ;P) I'm in a hurry so I won't say much, but here's chapter 8! Keep up the reviews, I love them and I love you! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 8.**

The day of the ball had arrived. Since the incident in the common room, Harry had noticed a significant amount of people avoiding him when possible, but he didn't really care about them. What he _did_ care about was the fact that Draco had been following the trend and had not been talking to Harry unless it was absolutely necessary.

'Absolutely necessary' was mainly restricted to Potions and Potions alone. Professor Merryboat had been insistently making his students produce love potion after love potion, making their antidotes alongside them, all of which Harry (Draco still adamant against the unlawful act) was given a sample of to take away from the lesson, becoming increasingly popular with the younger years whom he was selling them to for a small income. When jokingly questioned one lesson as to why they were making so many types, Merryboat merely replied that the N.E.W.T.s curriculum was majorly love potions and their antidotes.

In these lessons the conversation was limited to "can you pass the Ashwinder eggs please?" or "Snape's book says to stir anticlockwise not clockwise." most of said conversation coming from Harry with grunts and head nods as his only reply from Draco. This behaviour had gone on for two weeks, Harry's nightmares becoming considerably worse as time went on, and now that they were sitting in their last lesson of the day, before all rushing back to the common room to prepare for the ball, Harry decided that he should at least try to hold a non-Potion's related conversation seeing as Draco was meant to be his date for the evening.

"You don't have to go with me tonight if you don't want to." He said lowly so that only Draco would hear, if he chose to acknowledge Harry at all that is. Secretly Harry had been anticipating the ball more than was healthy. He had allowed his imagination to run wild and free after the near-kiss in the bathroom, thinking of what could happen when both Draco and he were slightly tipsy from the punch that is always spiked by some form of alcoholic beverage at such occasions. That is, he had been until he noticed that Draco was avoiding him. Now he realised that he had no choice in the matter. He would have to let Draco go. He would let him go and resume admiring him from afar as he had done for many years now. It just wouldn't do to wait around and pressure Draco into feeling something for him. As he had said in his first Potions class with the blonde, if the feelings from his love interest weren't real, then he would rather not have them. It would hurt too much.

When Draco didn't reply, Harry continued, "I know you're probably feeling awkward around me for one reason or another, and I just wanted to let you know that – " he paused, taking a deep breath to calm the pain he was feeling in his chest, "that if you want to go back to not knowing me then I'm okay with that. If it'll make you feel less awkward around me then you can pretend that we never…that we never became friends." Merryboat chose this point to dismiss the class slightly early so they could go and get ready. People started talking excitedly, the idea of the ball having grown on them since the first notice of it. Above the din of the loud chattering, Harry barely heard Draco's spat out reply,

"We're not friends and you know it." Harry bit back the tears that were pricking his eyes and nodded, swallowing thickly.

"Right. Of course. I'm sorry. I really am, I won't – "Harry swallowed a second time and tried again, "I won't bother you anymore." And with those last words, he grabbed his bag and left the room, not waiting for any reply he could have hoped Draco would make, knowing that he would be sorely disappointed with whatever retort came out of his mouth, for it wasn't retorts he wanted, it was restraints. He wanted Draco to leap up and grab him, to beg him not to leave, to ask him to the ball as his date again, to apologise for ignoring Harry for the past fortnight and say he had been out of his mind.

But Draco was a Malfoy. Even without the Malfoy name, it still wouldn't be in his nature to lose all pride and sense of dignity. He would never leap up, he would never beg, he would never plead, he would never apologise and he would certainly never say he was crazy.

It wouldn't be Draco if he did.

Resigned to this thought, Harry moved quickly through the castle and into the eighth year common room. He was met by Ron and Hermione soon after who had seen his swift departure from the dungeons.

"Harry, are you alright?" Hermione asked, worry creasing her forehead. Harry sighed and walked over to her, poking the creases between her eyebrows, alerting her to their presence so that she promptly returned her expression to normal. He then dropped his head onto her shoulder and buried his face into her neck, letting out a low groan of despair.

"I don't know what to do 'Mione." He whimpered into her hair. Harry felt her gesturing wildly behind his back.

"I'll come back later." Ron said, touching his hand to Harry's shoulder, "Um, feel better mate." When she heard the portrait swing shut over the entrance again, Hermione moved over to the comfiest sofa nearest the fire.

"Right. Do you want to tell me what's going on now, Harry?" she asked, draping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him into her chest in her motherly way.

"I broke off my friendship with Draco." Harry said looking up at her. He saw a deep recognition click inside her brilliant mind and watched as she turned to look at him with more pity and sadness than he thought he deserved.

"Harry…" she began, eyeing him carefully, "Do you – do you feel something more for Malfoy than just friendship?" she asked tentatively, delicately picking her words. Harry froze.

"Am I that obvious?" He asked, panicking slightly now, his face growing paler every second that Hermione didn't answer. Hermione, saw this and tightened her arm around his shoulder, squeezing him.

"No, no of course not Harry. It just makes sense to me, I mean, Ginny's not ugly, lots of the boys from different years fawn over her, I guess I just had my suspicions when you were so blatantly not attracted to her. And on the train you acted so weirdly when Malfoy came into the apartment and after that as well, you just acted differently around him, and you seemed to leap at the first chance to get close to him, and then I heard that you were going to the ball together. Even though you guys said you were only going as friends, I thought there might be something more. And then you came back after your…tantrum the other day and you guys seemed weird. What happened Harry?" She asked gently in a soothing voice.

"Um, well we went to a bathroom and he started to clean my cuts, non-magically." Harry explained, "He didn't want to risk using magic for anything other than a healing charm in case my magic made it go wrong. And then he said that you were right," Hermione sat up a little bit taller at this, "and that I _should_ talk to someone about all the war stuff and that I could talk to him if I wanted to. When I didn't reply he started babbling on and on, so I interrupted him saying that I would like to talk to him and how I think he's the only one who could really understand me and then I…" Harry blushed at what he was about to say, "I started to _flirt_ with him." He groaned and buried his head into Hermione's shoulder again, "I can't believe I did that! I started to flirt with him and he was reacting so well, but then I said the wrong words and he walked away after reminding me that we were only friends. After that he stopped talking to me unless it was necessary that he did."

"And? When did you renounce this friendship?"

"Just now. I tried talking to him in Potions, I said that he didn't have to go to the ball with me if it made him feel uncomfortable. I said that we could go back to ignoring the other, pretending that we never became friends. He said – "Harry swallowed and rubbed his throat to clear his airways, "He said that we weren't friends. He said that we weren't friends and I knew it. So I apologised and left saying that I wouldn't bother him again."

"Oh, Harry…" Hermione trailed off, not quite sure what to say. Somewhere in his mind, Harry recognised the great achievement it was to make Hermione Granger speechless, but the majority of his mind was taken up with thoughts, memories and dreams about Draco.

"What have I done?" He whispered, "I've ruined it all, 'Mione. I was his friend, his _friend_. That's one-step better than I was last year, I should have been happy with that. I should have been content with just being able to be with him without being hexed to next Tuesday." He paused, "I was, at first. I was so happy that he let me be near him, that he would talk to me normally, as if I was just another human being rather than Harry bloody Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. The boy who he despised. I was so happy!" Harry choked and then succumbed to the sobs that had been waiting to erupt from his throat, "I was happy, for once in my life I was happy and I could smile and I could forget about the dreams because when I woke up I had something to look forward to." He cried, forgetting to be quiet in case someone came in to the room or down from their bedroom, "I love him, Hermione, and now I've gone and fucked it all up because I got too full of myself. Because I was too happy, because I was forgetting to appreciate the little things, I was punished, just like always, just like with Sirius, and now I can't do anything about it. I love him. I love him, I love him, I fucking _love _him!" He cried out desperately, no longer in Hermione's arms but kneeling on the sofa, his head sunken into the pillows face first as he beat the cushion with his fists, before yielding to his bawling again and collapsing in on himself, fists still weakly hitting the sofa every now and then, bouncing back up ineffectually.

"You can't go in there. No! _No!_ It's one thing to listen at the door, but it's a whole other to barge in and _admit_ you've been eavesdropping!" Harry and Hermione heard Ron hissing at someone as the portrait hole swung open to reveal the pale redhead and the one person Harry could really have done without seeing.

Draco.

Harry could feel the colour run from his tear-stained face as he saw the boy stare at him in wide-eyed…horror? Fascination? Disgust? Harry couldn't tell, but what he _could_ tell was that Draco Malfoy (and Ron for that matter) had been listening by the entrance to the common room, and had heard either all of what he said, or at least his raging confession.

"Malfoy…" Hermione looked on in shock before rounding on Ron in hissed anger, leaving Harry and Draco to stare at each other, "Ronald, what _were_ you thinking? Eavesdropping! And not just you, but _Draco Malfoy_ as well! I thought that you, at least, were above such low methods. What on Earth possessed you? Could you not have just _waited_ until Harry was ready to tell you himself? This is a complete betrayal of trust!" She continued to berate him while he stood there, not really listening, but rather staring at Harry, white enough to emphasise his freckles like a Dalmatian's spots, shocked at the sudden outing of his best friend and confession for his ex-archenemy.

"Harry – "That was all it took from Draco's slack mouth. Harry had bolted out of the portrait hole and had run away to the Room of Requirement before anyone could even attempt to stop him.

He sprinted past the wall again and again, envisioning the room he needed in order to hide, but equally to get ready for the ball because yes, he still had to go to the compulsory fixture. He wasn't planning on staying long, just walk past the teacher at the door, have his name ticked off, hang around for a half hour or so, then run back to his room early.

The door materialised in front of him, he looked around for onlookers, saw that there were none, and leapt into the room.

The castle had produced a large, mainly empty, room containing only a sofa, a floor length mirror, a table with his book bag on and a wardrobe. Upon opening the wardrobe Harry noted it had all his own clothes in it from his one in his room with Ron. This, thankfully, meant that it had his dress robes in that he was planning to wear that evening, meaning he would not have to risk returning to the common room. With only an hour left until the ball, Harry quickly shirked off his normal robes, and slid into his midnight blue dress robes, admiring himself in the mirror. After ineffectually finger combing his hair, he settled down on the sofa after grabbing a textbook to read, waiting to waste the next 45 minutes.

* * *

><p>Harry walked into the Great Hall and gasped despite himself. The house elves had outdone themselves. Everything everywhere was crystal and silver and icy blue, contrasting magically with the blackness of the sky which was dotted with stars. The candles were pure white, as opposed to the usual cream, and were lit with white flames, dyed by magic. Professor Flitwick was standing just inside the doorway, checking people's names off the list he held. Harry was shoved forwards by some impatient sixth years and stumbled over the threshold as Flitwick ticked him from the parchment.<p>

He wandered over to the buffet tables where he could see a group of Slytherin seventh years spiking the punch, using their friends as human shields to hide them from Flitwick. They needn't have worried however; the Professor was in his element by the doors, taking his role of importance with much seriousness; making sure he stared into everyone's faces to tick off the right student. Plus, his footstool only allowed him to reach the average pupil's torso, he couldn't have seen what they were doing if he tried.

Figuring a good drunken evening was just what he was in the mood for right then, Harry slid into place by the punch bowl as the seventh years moved away sniggering and high fiving each other. Scooping a generous amount up with the ladle, Harry poured himself a glass and downed it in record time. Then he filled himself another glass. Then another. And another. Feeling decidedly happier with his life at that moment, he began to walk through the crowds of people, zigzagging slightly in his inebriated state and trying to figure out why people kept walking into him when he was walking in a perfectly straight line. He stopped when he felt someone tap him on his shoulder. Swerving around dangerously and sticking his arms out to balance himself, he looked to see who it was.

"Ginneh!" He slurred as he saw the redhead, "'Ello." He paused, cocked his head and then said, "Is that _my_ voice? Look! Look, Ginneh, I'm talking!" Harry began to laugh hysterically at himself, every now and then shouting out a greeting to strangers walking past him.

"Harry, are you _drunk_?" Ginny asked, incredulous.

"Harry, Harry, Harry. That's me! I'm Harry Potter!" He called out to the room, his voice drowned by the music, "Hey, hey Ginneh, you wanna know a secret?" He asked leaning down so he could whisper in her ear.

"Umm, sure?"

"I'm Harry Potter!" he giggled, "But don't tell anyone!" Rolling her eyes, Ginny pulled the laughing drunkard away from the centre of the room and over to the sidelines of the dancing crowd. She pulled out a flask of a pink liquid and pushed it into his hands.

"Drink this, Harry, it will make you sober up." She lied smoothly, making sure she was directly in front of him and quickly rearranging her hair and her very exposing dress in preparation for his affections.

"But I don't want to be sober!" He cried, "Don't wanna, don't wanna, don't wanna!"

"Okay!" Ginny shouted over his wailing, trying to quieten him as people started to stare at the great Harry Potter, saviour of the Wizarding World, drunk and crying over sobering up. "I'm sorry, I lied, it's actually a very powerful drink with a high alcohol content." At this, Harry shut up and looked at her with gleaming eyes.

"Alchool?" He slurred, "I like my al-alchool." Beaming he took the flask from her and downed it in one, slumping to the floor as he lost his footing. He hit his head as he went down and opened his eyes slowly, his vision wavering and unfocused. The first thing he focused on was the black and silver ceiling, and then his gaze slid down to see red hair and a freckly face.

"You alright mate?" Ron asked, as he stooped over his friend, having watched the events from afar warily as he saw his sister hand Harry something to drink. He had rushed over when he saw Harry fall and was currently trying to help him stand up with his hand under his arm.

"Ron?" Harry asked, breathlessly. "Ron." He repeated, sliding his arms around Ron's neck and clinging to him.

"Err, Harry? You okay?" Ron asked, trying to disentangle Harry's fingers from his hair where they were snaking through.

"Ron. You're my best mate." Harry murmured, leaning in to Ron's ear and arching his body into the Weasley's. "And I love you." He whispered, gently nibbling on Ron's earlobe.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** My first proper cliffhanger! What a great way to end it for tonight! Chapter 9 will be up in the morning, right now my parents are calling me to bed. Night!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Here we go! The ending to the cliffhanger (and also the longest chapter!)! I'll put 10 up sometime today, I have a lot to do computer-wise today so I might not be as attentive as normal. Anyway, enjoy, hope I don't disappoint!**

**SMUT WARNING!**

**Chapter 9.**

"_Ron. You're my best mate." Harry murmured, leaning in to Ron's ear and arching his body into the Weasley's. "And I love you." He whispered, gently nibbling on Ron's earlobe._

Yelping, Ron threw him off, Harry's head hitting the wall again and he slid down into a messy heap on the floor.

"What did you give him?" He yelled at his sister who was trying to sneak away and merge back into the crowd. He grabbed her arm and yanked her into himself, staring into her eyes angrily. At this point Hermione bustled through the crowd, Draco Malfoy in hot pursuit.

"Harry!" Hermione cried when she saw him, crumpled on the ground. "Ronald, what happened? Why did you shove him?" She shrieked.

"Love potion happened." Draco said simply, picking up the discarded flask from Harry's hands, a few drops of pink potion plopping out as he did so. "One that makes the victim fall in love with the first person they see." He elaborated, looking at Ron. "I'm guessing that was you." He stated. Ron nodded grimly.

"He tried to, um, make a move on me." Ron mumbled, flushing furiously all the way to the tips of his ears.

"You have the antidote I assume." Draco turned to Ginny who was still fighting against her brother's strong grip. It wasn't a question. She looked at him, glared but still fished out a small vial from inside her dress, thrusting it in his face. He took it and then waved it in Ron's face saying, "He'll probably only take it from you. Let the Weaslette go, he'd probably want that as well." Draco finished, nodding his head towards Harry. Grumbling, Ron let his sister go and took the potion, bending over Harry and shaking him slightly, calling his name.

"Harry. Harry mate, wake up." Harry's eyelids fluttered, "It's Ron, Harry wake up."

"Ron?" He asked, groggily.

"Yes, Ron." Ron replied.

"Hmm. Ron." Harry smiled, lifting his arms up and trying to put them around Ron's neck again.

"Harry, I need you to take this potion." Ron said, leaning away from Harry so that he missed his neck and swiped the air instead.

"Why?" Harry asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he realised his own drunken lack of coordination.

"Um, because I asked you to and you l-love me?" Ron replied, stumbling over his words. At this Harry smiled,

"I _do_ love you."

"Right. So, take this?" Ron reiterated, pushing the potion into Harry's hands.

"Will it make me sober?" Harry asked, peering at the vial in his hands. Ron looked up at Draco who nodded.

"Yeah, it will."

"Then I don't want it!" Harry cried.

"But Ron loves you more when you're sober." Hermione cut in, crouching next to Ron.

"You do?" Harry asked, turning his wide eyes towards the red head who was throwing evils to his girlfriend.

"Sure." Ron replied, sighing, "So please, just take the potion?"

"Okay!" Harry smiled and swallowed it, beaming. The smile slowly slid off his face as he sobered up and recovered from the love potion. "Ron?" he said.

"Yeah?" Ron replied, nervously.

"No offence, but you're really not my type." At this Ron sighed with relief, Draco snorted and Hermione started to laugh.

"Glad to hear it." Ron said, then stood up, helping Harry up at the same time.

"Urgh, I feel like shit." Harry said as he swayed on the spot, dizzy and with a splitting headache. "I think I'm going to go to bed early."

"Alright mate, feel better." Ron replied, then turned back to Hermione and Draco. His eyes narrowed. "Wait, Hermione, why were you with Malfoy in the first place?" He asked demandingly.

"Oh please, Ron, we've just averted one disaster, can you not just jump right into another?" She asked before continuing to tell him off in more ways than Harry thought was possible. Smiling at his friends despite himself, Harry quickly slipped out of the Great Hall and began his return to the eighth year common room. When he reached it, he was about to go to his room, draw the curtains and fall into a well-deserved sleep when a voice stopped him.

"Wait." Harry turned around to see Draco staring at him furiously, rage emanating from every pore in his body. The scene from earlier rushed back into Harry's head and he felt himself flush and then pale. He felt like he was about to throw up.

"Draco?" Harry asked, hating the way how his voice shook just from looking at the angry boy.

"We need to talk and you're not leaving until either I've punched you a few times, or we've _talked_ and I've punched you a few times."

"Why give me an option? You never used to." Harry replied dryly, just wanting to go to bed and hide there, lock his room, never to come out again.

"Because I thought that we had worked past some of our differences and were mature enough to handle an adult conversation."

"With the threat of punches."

"Let's call that me indulging my youth." Harry rolled his eyes at this and slumped down into a sofa.

"Whatever. Should we get this over with?" Draco sat down on the opposite end of the sofa to Harry. "What's wrong? I don't bite." Harry jeered, his chest hurting from seeing Draco avoid him so obviously, "Oh, but I forgot, you wouldn't want to sit anywhere near a fag who loves you and tried to make a move on you in a bathroom." He spat out spitefully.

"Harry, that's not true." Draco replied quietly, "And that is part of what I wanted to talk about, but first I thought I should reprimand you a bit for selling our love potions to the younger years and ending up in this mess. I doubt the Weaslette would have known how to make that love potion, meaning she must have got someone to buy it for her." Realisation dawned on Harry. "It was dangerous and stupid and Merryboat should never have given you the means to take those potions outside the classroom. It's completely illegal." Harry nodded, feeling guilty all of a sudden, like a small child being told off by their parents.

"And as for the, ah, other matter," Draco began. Harry shut his eyes, set his jaw and clenched his hands into fists, preparing himself for both a physical and emotional blow. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't just jump to conclusions." At this Harry opened his eyes, anger rising in him.

"Jump to _conclusions_? About what? About my feelings? You think I don't know how to tell if I love someone or not? You think I don't recognise the signs? The increased heart rate, the dreams, the tongue tying, the pain when I realise that you don't love me but I love you and nothing can change that? Don't you dare say that I'm jumping to anything, I know exactly how I feel and I know how nothing can change that. _Nothing_. I know how you being an ex-death eater doesn't change thing for me, how you being a Malfoy doesn't change a thing for me, how you being my ex-enemy doesn't change a thing for me, how you being a man doesn't change a thing for me! I've had 8 years to think about this, so don't you think that I'm jumping to any type of – " Harry was cut off by a hand over his mouth. Before he could move or protest the hand had moved.

"I meant I'd appreciate it if you would not jump to conclusions about my reaction." Draco murmured, his face very close to Harry's.

"Does that mean you…?" Harry trailed off. He didn't want to say it in case this was all a joke, in case Draco pulled away laughing and jeering at him.

"Maybe." Draco replied, their noses touching now.

"Maybe's good enough for me." Harry whispered before slowly closing the mere millimetres between them. He put his hands on Draco's face and laced his fingers into the golden locks that hung around his face. Tilting his head slightly so his nose just slid past Draco's he pressed their lips together. All at once a shock of electricity pulsed through their bodies followed by multiple jolts of pleasure that reached into their every nerve cell, making them both gasp and groan at the same time, mouths opening for one another and tongues sliding past lips to gently stroke each other.

"Did you feel that?" Harry asked, pulling away.

"Yeah, I think our magic likes us." Draco replied quietly before hungrily attacking Harry's mouth once more. He ran his hands through Harry's untameable hair and tugged him closer, closer, closer, until Harry was sitting in Draco's lap, straddling him, writhing against him as their mouths moved against each others' furiously.

Draco slid his hands under Harry's shirt and ran them up his toned chest, stopping to roll and rub Harry's nipples between his fingers. At this Harry moaned loudly and bucked his hips violently, discovering a new pleasure there as his erection rubbed against Draco's, pulling a groan from Draco. Harry detached his mouth from Draco's to reattach it to his neck, trailing kisses up and down his throat as he rubbed his arousal against Draco's, finding a rhythm that worked for both of them, sucking, biting, licking, nibbling, creating mark after mark after mark, claiming the boy as his own.

Suddenly there were too many clothes between them. Harry made quick work of Draco's belt and trousers, pulling them down enough to see that he had gone commando that day, his cock finally free of its cage. Harry felt Draco's fingers move from his nipples as he fiddled and fumbled with the buttons on Harry's shirt. Harry pulled away and stood up, all the while making sure he kept eye contact with Draco. He began to undress himself, slowly and sensually, staring into Draco's eyes as he did. Draco groaned in impatience as he gently stroked his hard-on while watching Harry's show. When Harry was in nothing more than his boxers he leaned over Draco and kissed him passionately on the mouth, replacing the Slytherin's hand on his cock with his own, before pulling his mouth away and whispering into his ear.

"Is this for me?" He asked, stroking Draco's burning arousal as he did, teasing it as he rubbed his thumb over the tip. Draco moaned and thrust into Harry's hand, wanting more. "Patience." Harry hissed before standing up, gathering his clothes, taking Draco's hand and leading him into his bedroom, locking and silencing the room.

The moment the room was secured, Harry began to kiss Draco again, yanking at his hair to pull his head down to his level, unbuttoning his shirt and pulling down his trousers, leaving Draco to toe off his shoes and socks until he was standing there completely naked.

Harry gasped as he saw three thin, long, white scars running the length of Draco's torso.

"Draco, I – " Harry began, not quite knowing what to say. He was cut off by Draco's mouth on his yet again though, silencing all apologies he could have hoped to have make.

"It doesn't matter anymore." Draco said against Harry's lips, gently running his hands up and down his back, fingers flowing over Harry's own scars.

"But, that was me, it was because of me,_ I_ – "

"It doesn't _matter_." Draco growled out, more forcefully this time, pushing Harry backwards until his shins caught the edge of the bed and he fell backwards onto it, Draco crawling seductively on top of him. "They're battle wounds." He continued, working his way around Harry's body with his lips, trailing kisses everywhere he could reach, ensuring that every single scar from the war was met with the same affections. "Shows that I was in a situation where I could have died, but didn't. I survived. You survived. So stop thinking so hard about such unnecessary qualms." By this point Harry was whimpering quietly beneath the blonde, body lax as he accepted the pampering. Draco slowly moved his mouth lower and lower, kissing so tenderly and lovingly that Harry would have thought that they had been lovers for years. He trailed down Harry's stomach, working his way over the sensitive skin until he finally reached the area that was begging for attention.

From there, Draco breathed softly on Harry's throbbing erection, teasing him with his hot breath, letting the raven-haired boy know what wonders were to come. He stayed like that for minutes, breathing and pecking with the softest of lips tormenting the Gryffindor until he was writhing beneath him, spewing gibberish, eventually managing to squeeze out the words,

"Draco…please…need you…_now_!" Smirking at having achieved his goal, Draco slowly and languidly ran his tongue along the underside of Harry's member from base to tip, eagerly lapping up the leaking pre-cum from the slit before engulfing the entire cock with his open and salivating mouth, wanting this just as much as Harry did. Harry cried out and bucked his hips up furiously as Draco began to suck, challenging him to release into his ready and waiting mouth. Not wanting to ruin his fun, Draco stopped bobbing his head and allowed Harry to thrust greedily into his mouth, mouth fucking him, Draco swallowing whenever he felt the need to gag and thoroughly loving every second of it. When he could feel Harry's thrusts becoming more erratic and less well timed, however, Draco knew he was close and forcefully wrenched his mouth off of Harry's shaft. The boy whimpered loudly from the loss, but Draco merely leaned in to growl in his ear,

"I want to make you come from here." he touched a finger to Harry's entrance, stroking the hole gently as Harry shuddered beneath him.

"Draco." Harry moaned. "Please...now...need your cock..." Shivering at the sight and sounds of the Gryffindor beneath him, Draco scurried around, searching for a wand and silently cast a lubrication and stretching spell on Harry and repeated the former on his own fingers and shaft. Harry whimpered as he felt himself stretch and moisten, his legs automatically falling wide open wantonly. Knowing that neither of them would last long, Draco quickly, but gently, shoved a finger inside Harry, then two, then three, gasping at the warmth and the tightness, imagining his cock in there instead.

Harry whined out of discomfort at first, but then Draco hooked his fingers and touched something inside of Harry that made him cry out and shove down, hard, on Draco's hand. Draco gently stroked that same spot repeatedly as Harry arched his back and pushed against him.

Figuring he knew where Harry's prostrate was by now, and unable to contain himself anymore, Draco swiftly retracted his fingers, lined himself up, and thrusted quickly into Harry's waiting hole, hitting his prostrate on the first try. Both boys cried out with ecstasy at the feeling of filling and being filled, and Draco had to force himself to open his eyes to scan Harry's face for signs of discomfort. When he found none he quickly retracted to his head and then snapped himself back in, moaning in time with Harry as the boy below him met each thrust with a thrust of his own.

Once he was in that hot and tight cavern, Draco knew he was doomed and was probably going to be the one to come first. So as he sped up, getting faster and faster until he could no longer manage to pull himself out properly and was reduced to forceful rocking, he was surprised to feel Harry close around him deliciously and to feel the muscles ripple against his cock as Harry came, shooting his load so high that it hit his own face and some slid into his open mouth.

The feeling of Harry around him, along with the sight of him cumming sent Draco over the edge and with one final plunge he felt his balls tighten as he came furiously into Harry. As he released he felt a rumble roll through the room, but before he could contemplate what it was he saw stars in front of his eyes, then everything went white, then black as he felt himself falling and falling.

Draco awoke a few seconds later to find himself lying on top of a panting Harry, still lodged firmly inside him.

"Wow." was all that Draco could manage.

"Did you just black out?" Harry asked, breathless, but looking proud. It wasn't everyday you made your partner cum so hard they fainted, and it was even less often that it happened on your first time.

"Shut up." Draco grumbled, red in the face, not only from the sex, determinedly not looking at Harry. Harry chuckled at how adorable Draco was and cupped his chin, forcing him to look at him.

"It was amazing." Harry reassured him, pulling his face up, "Amazing." he hissed before kissing Draco firmly on the lips. The Slytherin shuddered, limp cock twitching in its moist cavern.

"Do that again." He gasped out, fighting the need to thrust. Harry frowned.

"Do what again?"

"The hissing thing, Parseltongue." Harry's lips curled into a smirk. Draco was a Slytherin after all, it shouldn't surprise him that he was turned on by hissing.

"Does it excite you?" Harry whispered in the reptilian language. Draco moaned as he felt his cock fill up with blood again. "Does it make you want to fuck me again?" The boy inside Harry moaned and started to rock his hips again. "Fuck me Draco, fuck me till I've milked you empty and you have to dry orgasm inside of me." Draco was moaning openly now, snapping his hips backwards and forwards violently. "Yesss." Harry hissed, "Use your own cum as lube and fuck me so hard that I mould around your shape and only your cock fits me." Harry had to stop there as Draco's thrusts became so powerful that he was being shoved into the bed with every thrust, rocking the bed in time with them. He was yelling in whatever Tongue that came out of his mouth for 'more' 'harder' 'deeper' until he came intensely and saw stars and felt the air crackle and pop around them, a wave of magic crashing through the room as Draco released inside of Harry for the second time that evening. Draco collapsed, conscious this time, on top of Harry, slipping out of him despite Harry's protests, and curling himself around the smaller boy protectively, pulling him in, chest to chest, sealing their sticky mess between him as he rubbed his thumbs over Harry's arms comfortingly.

Harry sighed, content, feeling himself twitch slightly every now and then as he felt the result of his and Draco's love making slide and dribble out of his body. After some manoeuvring, Draco managed to pull the soiled sheets over himself and Harry and then settled down into his cuddle with the boy, smiling to himself with badly concealed happiness at taking the boy whom he had been admiring for the past few weeks. Spooning comfortably, the two fell asleep, Harry feeling considerably better after the potion.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N**: **Ahhh, smut. How much I love it. And this pairing. And you guys because you are all lovely =] I'll update soon!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Here's number 10! It seems that I'm back to the pathetically short chapters, but I'll try to keep the updates steady so that it shouldn't matter too much! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 10.**

The next morning Draco awoke early to find a crusty body glued to his chest. Memories of the previous night flooded back to him and a significant snippet of the conversation he and Harry had had, before the raucous night in, returned;

_'I've had 8 years to think about this,'_

Eight years. Harry had held feelings for him for eight years? Draco himself had only started being attracted to the boy after the bathroom incident a few weeks previously.

Suddenly the body stuck to his was too hot and overpowering. Draco peeled his chest away from Harry's, ignoring the whimper that it drew from the smaller boy, cast a quick cleaning charm with his wand that he found lying under the bed, got re-dressed and scarpered from the room, feeling suffocated by the strength of Harry's feelings and his lack of ability - and will - to reciprocate them in any way other than physically.

* * *

><p>Harry woke up a few hours after Draco's silent departure with a cold back and a clean body. Both of these surprised him as he expected to be covered in dried cum and to be nestled into Draco's chest. Rolling over languidly, reaching out for the blonde, proved unsuccessful as his hands were met with long-cold sheets and handfuls of duvet.<p>

Now wide awake, Harry shot up as the pain of realisation hit him. He felt his heart sink into his stomach and his eyes well up with fresh tears as he understood what Draco's disappearance meant: Harry was just a fuck and fly. While to Harry, the previous night had been wonderful on so many levels, mainly just the connection with the person he loved, to Draco it had been a night out on the prowl, looking for someone to fuck before running from the scene.

Tears now falling down his face as he felt the painful throb in his backside whenever he moved, Harry sat in his bed quietly weeping to himself crushed and silenced by his sense of triviality.

* * *

><p>Harry emerged from his room that morning puffy eyed and sore nosed. Upon seeing him Ron went red with anger as he first complained about being locked out of his own room for a whole night, (to which the replies were mainly, 'Yes, Ron, I'm sorry, Ron, I just wanted some time and didn't think, Ron') and then began ranting about the side effects the love potion had done to his face, before storming off to breakfast to find his sister.<p>

When Hermione saw him, her knowledge of seeing Draco follow Harry out of the hall the previous evening, combined with the confession of interest for Harry that she had elicited from Draco when she had been with him before the potion incident, clicked it all into place and she instantly swept over to Harry and hugged him, hesitating when she saw him wince and flinch in pain when he moved.

"I was a fuck and run, Hermione. A one night stand." Harry whimpered into her hair as she soothed him by stroking his head.

"It's okay Harry, I'm sure there's a completely logical explanation for this." She replied, softly cooing into his ear like a mother hen. At this Harry pulled away and looked into her eyes.

"But that's the thing, 'Mione. There's not always a logical explanation when it comes to feelings." Stumped at this, Hermione opened and closed her mouth a few times before Harry sighed. "It's fine. You go to breakfast. I'm not hungry. Just tell Ron it was the potion or something. I'm just gonna go sit in my room for a bit to wallow in my self misery and nurse my broken heart." Harry waved his hand around in a flamboyant gesture, rivalling that of Merryboat's, to show that he was half-joking, whereas, in fact, that was exactly was he was planning on doing. Sitting in bed, mourning over his heart shards, and stuffing his face with his hidden store of Honeyduke's chocolate.

Hermione gave him one last worried look, before turning on her heel and hurrying out the portrait hole. Harry sighed again when she left, clutched his shirt with a white fist over his chest and hobbled back up the stairs to his room, puffy eyed, sore nosed and, now, pale skinned as the conversation and constant movement drained the energy from him.

Halfway up the stairs he stumbled a bit and cried out in pain as he leant against the wall for support and his backside hit the bricks with more force than was appreciated in his post-virginity-loss state. He let out one defeated sob before taking a deep breath in and continuing up the stairs to his 'Chamber of Depressing' where he was to spend the rest of the day moping in.

Draco, having slid into the corner of the room the moment he saw the obviously depressed Harry stumble from his room, watched and heard the exchanges between him and Ron and Hermione and then watched him as he tried to make his way back upstairs. When he had stumbled Draco had felt an instinctual pull to go and help him, but, fighting the impulse, had stood his ground until he had heard Harry sob and felt his heart wrench in the most painful of ways and realised that on some cosmic level and for some unknown reason, he definitely felt something stronger than lust for Harry. When this realisation had hit home Draco had leapt into action before he even realised what he was doing.

He raced up the stairs after Harry and quickly slid into the room he had fled from earlier, just in time to see Harry pull out a large bar of chocolate from a loose floorboard under his trunk at the foot of his bed. His chest clenched painfully and he shut the door behind him with a solid _'thunk'_. Harry whipped around before wincing in the pain the movement brought on.

"Harry." Draco almost whispered, his voice breaking on the simple, two-syllable name. He crossed the room in three seconds flat and enveloped the now trembling Gryffindor in his arms, breathing in heavily through his nose, inhaling the smell of the boy he was almost sure he loved.

"Draco." Came Harry's reply, "What are you doing here?"

"I owe you an explanation. And I need to tell you something." Draco said before taking a deep breath in and ploughing on.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** Poor old Harry! Draco to the rescue! Thank you for the constant reviews, please keep them coming! I love hearing your advice on how to make the story better and whether you like it or not =]**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Angst warning, for those with a weak emotional constitution, look away now. That being said…enjoy!**

**Chapter 11.**

_"Draco." Came Harry's reply, "What are you doing here?"_

_"I owe you an explanation. And I need to tell you something." Draco said before taking a deep breath in and ploughing on._

"Firstly, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you this morning, I'm sorry I was such a royal arse and let you think that you were just another notch in the belt, I'm sorry I let you suffer while I ran away, scared and unsure. I've thought things through now and I've seen the error of my ways. I'm sorry."

Harry looked up into the silver eyes that he loved and saw that Draco was telling the truth and really did regret his actions. Every fibre in his body was aching to forgive him and to take him back, but his head was screaming at him to consider carefully before doing anything that could lead to hurting his heart again.

"Draco... I accept your apology but I don't think I can do this. I can't be hurt again. Please understand me in this. I've antagonised over you for eight years, back in sixth year when I nearly killed you with that curse, I almost killed myself. I couldn't bear the thought of living with you dead, especially if I was the cause of your death. The amount of times I considered chucking myself off the Astronomy tower, or AK-ing myself... I hated myself for doing that to you." Harry paused to place his palm against Draco's chest where he knew the scars were. He fought the tears that were threatening to fall yet again. He swallowed and continued,

"This is different, I know, but the same principle applies. If I go out with you and it doesn't work out, I don't think I'd be able to cope. I can't handle being given hope and then having that hope taken away. Last night I thought that we were together, but when I woke up and you were gone and I thought that I was a one night stand... That killed me. You have to understand that I'm not some human punching bag. I'm through with the self sacrificing, I want to be selfish and if that means that I want the person I love to love me back or not at all, then so be it. It's what I want. So I can't do this. I'm sorry."

Draco's eyes widened and he felt his heart rate quicken in panic at the thought of not being with Harry. "Harry, no, Harry." Draco took Harry's head into his hands, smiling, trying to get Harry to see how he was overreacting, how this wasn't a big deal, "You don't understand, I made a mistake, but I'd never do it again, can't you see that? I lo-"

"Don't!" Harry interrupted, tears spilling out of his tired eyes. "I said in Potions before, didn't I? I don't want your feelings unless they're real. I don't want you to tell me you love me, spur of the moment, just so you don't have to face up to reality."

"You were taking about me then weren't you?" Draco whispered, incredulous. Harry nodded sadly. "And with the ball, when I asked if you had any love interests..." Draco hung his head. "I've been a right twat, haven't I?"

Harry gurgled in laughter through his tears and placed a consoling hand on his head. "Yeah, you have. But I don't care. You're Draco Malfoy. I knew what I was getting myself into when I felt myself falling for you. I still love you."

Draco lifted his head to look into Harry's watery green eyes with longing pouring out of his grey ones. "I want to be with you. I really do. It's just I only noticed you in that way a few weeks ago and it hasn't been long enough for me to tell..."

Harry nodded again and smiled weakly, "I know. I know and it's okay. You don't need to force yourself. Just remember-" Harry broke off to let out a sob, "Remember that I love you, okay? I really do and I'm doing this because I love you."

Draco nodded, not trusting his voice, and leant in, trying for a parting kiss. Harry put his hand on Draco's mouth, however, and shook his head.

"I can't, my dragon. I said before; hope dangled, hope snatched. It hurts too much."

Draco's eyes welled up at the use of the pet name and the knowledge that Harry wouldn't ever use it again.

"I want that." he choked out, "The pet names, the cuddling, the hand holding, I want all of it."

"You want a relationship, Draco. A relationship, not me. You want someone you can open up to. Someone you can be honest with. You were surrounded by Slytherin's all this time; you didn't have any truthful relationships. You found me and mistook your curiosity for something more. After this you can go find someone you can be with. You can find someone else that you can be happy with."

Draco was crying now, and Harry was stroking his hair and rubbing away the tears on his face as they fell. "Okay?" he sobbed, "Okay? You'll find someone else, you'll find someone better than me, you'll be happy yet, Draco, you _will_. Okay? You will, just trust me." Harry was crying completely now, sobbing and hiccoughing as he talked.

"There's no one better than you." Came Draco's quiet reply.

Harry's heart throbbed painfully and he forced a smile onto his face as he replied, "Yes there is Draco. Of course there is. You just need to go out there and find them." Harry started to gently push at Draco's chest, urging him out the room. As they were nearing the door, Draco suddenly turned around.

"Harry I can't do this. Please, I can't leave you, I need to be with you, please! Maybe, maybe I don't know if I love you right now, but just give me a few more days, I'll know by then, please!"

"I'm sorry, Draco. It's all or nothing. If you don't love me now, I can't offer you anything else. I've given you all I have." Harry opened the door and pushed at Draco again, willing him to move. After staring at Harry for a long time he finally nodded in defeat and left the room, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Once the door was shut, both boys collapsed on the floor in fits of crying, their hearts breaking in sync as the possibility of being together was ruled out once and for all.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** Short and painful and dripping with silly teenage reasoning (said with much experience as I am a teenager with said reasoning). BUT! It is not the end! There is more yet to come perhaps later this very eve… you can tell I've been reading a fic with Trelawney in it =/ Please keep up the reviews! They're the highlight of my day =]**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** This was originally two chapters, but they were both just so stupidly short that I thought I would combine them, and even then they only reach a little over 2,000 words. =/ Oh well, the story's nearly over! In my head I figure there'll be 2 more chapters left in this, with an ending that will allow me to write a sequel if you want me to and if I want to. For now though, enjoy!**

**Chapter 12.**

The next day was bright and sunny and was regarded by Harry with a complex mixture of relief and pain. The previous day had been spent by Harry in bed, crying, and he awoke to feel a strange lightness in his heart, one he had never expected to feel after the messy 'break up' between him and Draco. Though his heart and body still throbbed dully, he could see himself coming out the other end of the tunnel with Ron and Hermione at his side just as always.

Getting out of bed quietly, so as to not wake Ron who had slumped into the room at some ungodly hour after doing who knows what with Hermione, Harry padded over to the en suite bathroom that all the eighth years had connected to their rooms. Upon reaching the mirror he yelped at his reflection. It looked like Hermione had cast the stinging curse on him again, like she had the previous year.

His eyes were swollen and pink, his nose was red and shiny and his lips were chapped and cut from where he had bitten them too hard in an attempt to hold back his tears. Thankfully, because of the travelling last year, Harry knew some tricks with charms and glamour spells, and quickly corrected his face, putting it back to its usual proportions.

When he walked back into his room Ron was stirring. Harry perched on the end of Ron's bed and cast a cold wash spell that made it feel like you were being doused in cold water, without getting wet.

"_Harry!_" Ron screeched, clutching his duvet around him. "You little prick, I was getting up! Oh. You look better." he finished upon seeing Harry's face. Harry smiled at him.

"Yeah, thanks, I feel better."

"Potion wore off then?"

"Err, yeah, something like that."

"Breakfast?"

"Sure." Harry smiled, glad to have some normalcy back in his life. The boys got dressed and headed straight for the Great Hall.

"So, what d'ya wanna do today?" Ron asked, his mouth full of scrambled eggs and toast.

"Hogsmeade?" Harry replied, wanting to get out of the grounds and figuring using the eighth year privileges would be the perfect way.

"Okay, mate. You not eating?"

"Nah, not hungry." And it was true. Harry knew he should be hungry; he hadn't eaten a thing the day before, but his stomach just wouldn't grumble for him. In fact, he felt bloated more than anything, like he would be sick if anyone made him eat something.

"Suit yourself." Ron replied before stuffing his face again.

"Do I want to know where Hermione is this morning?" Harry asked having noticed her absence.

"Ah, prolly best leave that be, Harry. 'Specially if you're already not hungry."

"Urgh, nice Ron, thanks." Ron shrugged.

"You asked, mate." Harry snorted at this and affectionately watched his friend eat. Allowing his gaze to wander, he glanced over at the Slytherin table, quickly scanning for a head of white blonde hair. His eyes were met with grey as he saw Draco staring right back at him. Harry blinked, smiled briefly, then returned his gaze to Ron, not waiting to see Draco's reaction.

Ron looked over his shoulder to see who Harry was looking at and shuddered when he remembered Harry's tearful admission. Hermione had talked and talked at him about Malfoy and Harry, and how Harry loved the ferret and how Malfoy had changed (Malfoy, _changed?_) and he had resentfully agreed to let it all play out. Now Ron felt like he could at least talk about it, as long as he didn't have to witness anything. _'I'm going to _have _to talk to him about it, aren't I?'_ he thought to himself with an internal sigh. _'Love counselling about the ferret. Great.'_

When Ron had decided that his stomach was sufficiently filled they stopped off at the common room to grab the map and cloak (Harry never left the castle without them) before heading out the Main Entrance and walking off through the grounds. Once they were out the gates and were safe to hold a conversation without the risk of being overheard, Ron decided to leap in, both feet first.

"So, Harry... I saw you looking at the ferret at breakfast..." Harry's eyes widened in realisation.

"Ron, _please_ don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing."

"What?"

"Counselling? Really? Sorry, Ron but it really just isn't your style."

"Hey! I can be emotional when I need to be. So...have you slept with him?"

"Ron!" Harry cried out, mortified.

"What?" Harry groaned and rubbed his temples tiredly with one hand.

"How much truth do you want to know?" he asked, blushing slightly at the thought of telling his best friend about his sexual endeavours.

"Oh Merlin." Ron's eyes went wide. "Oh sweet _Merlin_, you _have_ haven't you? You've slept with the ferret. _You've_ had _sex_ with _Malfoy_!"

"Sh! Be quiet!" Harry pleaded, glancing nervously over his shoulder. "Yes, alright, yes! I've had sex with Draco, now please be more subtle about it!"

"When? Where? You better not have used my bed! Does this mean you're...together now, or something?" Ron whispered.

"Um, the night of the Reunion Ball... In my bed, and no, we're not together." Harry answered, just as quietly.

"What, so he just fucks you and leaves, you move on and everything's hunky dory again?" Ron's volume was increasing again as his anger rose.

"No, yes, well sort of. It's more complicated than that." Harry tried to placate him before he started roaring and tore back to the castle guns a-blazing. "I thought I was a one nighter, but I wasn't, he just got nervous and ran, but then he came back to apologise, and I accepted it, but I couldn't go out with him."

"Why not?" Ron asked, interested.

"It hurts too much to be with someone you love knowing they're only experimenting with you." Harry mumbled in reply.

"He was experimenting with you?" Ron yelled. "_Using_ you?"

"No! Ron, just listen alright?" Ron nodded begrudgingly. "He only started to like me after he knew I liked him. That means that he was only curious. If he felt anything genuine he would have done something before. He was just lonely and when he heard that someone loved him he wanted to try feeling loved, so he went after me. Then he got scared because he realised he had just done something very big with someone who was very much in love with him and he ran. Simple as. Then he saw he hurt me, felt bad - he's not as heartless as you think he is - apologised and asked me out, out of guilt. I couldn't do it to myself so I said no. That's it. No using, no cheating or lying or scheming. Just another relationship in the world that didn't work out."

Ron thought about that for a few minutes before asking, "And you're okay with that? Last time I heard of it you were having a breakdown in the common room over not being with him."

"Of course I'm not okay with it." Harry replied quietly. "But it's what we both need. I've been hung up on him for much too long. I cried it out yesterday and woke up feeling a thousand times better. I need to move on Ron, and so does he." Ron conceded this point with a quiet nod of his head and they went the rest of the way to Hogsmeade in an amicable silence.

* * *

><p>Draco Malfoy watched Harry at breakfast. <em>'Why isn't he eating?'<em> he thought while absently twiddling his spoon in his porridge. Harry looked at him then. Draco stared back. Harry smiled and looked away. Draco continued staring. The Weasel looked over his shoulder at him. Draco scowled. The Weasel turned back round. Draco resumed staring at Harry.

_'What can I do to make this work?'_ he asked himself. _'I need to be with him. It has to be him. Thinking of anyone else makes me feel sick. I definitely like him, but when does 'like' turn to 'love'?'_ Harry got up and moved out the hall with Weasley. Draco waited a bit then followed. He heard their footsteps ahead of his own and waited around a corner when he heard them go into the common room. They came back out, chatting about Quidditch and carried on in the opposite direction to where Draco was. He resumed the pursuit.

They reached the grounds and continued. Draco waited for them to walk a bit over the open grounds before skulking through the trees on the edge of the forest to follow them.

When they were out the gates and in the open, free of Hogwarts' spell boundaries, Draco cast a disillusionment charm on himself and then moved closer to the pair to hear their conversation.

He stayed deathly quiet throughout their conversing, making sure he didn't miss a word. His heart ached when he heard Harry's words, and his face flushed in anger and embarrassment at the Weasel's.

_'How can I set this right?'_ he asked himself. _'I have to talk to Harry...but he probably wouldn't let me. He'd say it would give him hope or something. Granger. I need Granger on my side.'_ Having made his decision, Draco rushed back to the castle and to the dorms to find Granger and ask for her assistance.

* * *

><p>"Granger." Hermione groaned and rolled over in bed. "Granger." The voice was louder this time. "<em>Granger!<em>" The yell was followed by a bang as Hermione's door was blasted off its hinges. Hermione sat up straight in bed.

"Eurgh! Merlin's balls, woman, cover yourself, I have no desire to see your lady bits!" Draco Malfoy screeched as he skidded into the room.

"Malfoy!" Hermione screamed as she clutched her duvet to her chest and slid down further under the covers, blushing furiously. "What the _hell_ are you _doing_ here?" she hissed.

"Night in with Weasley, eh? When can we expect the weasel babies?" Draco taunted, looking at the ruffled Granger bemusedly.

"About the same time we can expect Harry to bear the ferret babies." Hermione answered dryly. "Now what are you doing here? Don't think for a second that I don't know about what you did to Harry. He was a wreck you know." she narrowed her eyes at him. Draco winced.

"I know. I found him after you left. I apologised. He accepted but said he couldn't go out with me." Hermione's eyebrows rose in shock, then furrowed in a frown.

"But Harry loves you, why would he say no?" Draco sighed, then retold the whole story, including following Harry and Weasley out of the castle.

"I need him to see sense, see that I do... Like him. He's too stubborn though! He's too stubborn and I'm too much of a virgin to relationships. How do I know if I love him?" Draco asked dejectedly, sitting down heavily on the foot of Hermione's bed.

"Would you give everything up for him?" Hermione asked softly, seeing how broken Malfoy was about this. "Your name, your fortune, your manor, your pride?"

"I would give those up for no one!" Draco exclaimed, outraged at the idea. "I am a _Malfoy_ for goodness sake!" Hermione sighed.

"Think about it. Think _really_ hard, Malfoy. For Harry. This is _Harry_ we're talking about. If it was for Harry, would you give it all up? If it meant you could be with him?" Draco sat there in silence for a bit, thinking.

"I could give up my name. I could give up my pride - hell I already have! I begged him, and Malfoy's don't beg." he paused. "But the manor. That's my home. My childhood. I'm not one to get sentimental about things, but I still grew up there. I couldn't give it up, despite the Dark Lord, despite the repossession of half of our belongings, if not for the grandeur, then for the memories." Hermione nodded.

"Okay, scrap the manor. What about your fortune, Malfoy? Would you be willing to become no more than a peasant for him?" Slowly, Draco nodded. Then shook his head. Then nodded again.

"I don't know. If he asked me to give it all away, I would. But without his ordering it, I couldn't do it." Hermione frowned in disappointment.

"Why's that, Malfoy?" Draco shook his head again.

"No. I won't tell you. You'll laugh at me, _mock_ me. I know you don't have a good impression of me."

"I won't laugh, Malfoy. I promise. No matter how camp your answer is, even if it's that you want to buy lots of pink unicorns, I won't laugh." Draco shrivelled his nose in disgust at the unicorn idea.

"Please, Granger. Show some taste. I already think you have little for going out with the Weasel."

"Stop stalling, Draco. I _will_ make you say it." Draco sighed, looked at Hermione once more with imploring eyes, then gave in.

"It would be our future." He said in a small, quiet voice. "If I got Harry, then I could give it all up apart from the money. It would be our future. It would buy our first house, our first pet...the things for our first child. I can't give that up. That future for us is something I'm not willing to give up." He finished even more quietly than he'd started.

He hadn't even known he was going to mention kids until it had come out of his mouth. It felt right, though; the thought of having children with Harry. Adoption may be the only way, Draco had never taken the time to explore his potions books for potions that made male pregnancy feasible, but it still felt like something he wanted to do.

Meanwhile, Granger was beaming at him. Not laughing, not mocking, not cooing nor fawning, just smiling.

"That is how you tell if you love him." _Love_. The word felt funny in Draco's head, but it warmed his heart. Yes. Love. He loved Harry.

"Thank you...Hermione." he said, smiling softly at her.

"You're welcome, Draco." he nodded once, then got up and left, allowing Hermione to get dressed. He loved Harry. Now he just needed to convince him that he did.

Draco sped back to his room to start planning. He knew how he would do this.

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** Dun dun dun! ****Old animosity has been tamed, friendships have been formed, plans have been thought of! What will happen next? ;P Next chapter coming soon!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** This is the penultimate chapter everyone! One more to go! I'll probably upload the last chapter in the evening (in about 7+ hours) so please bear with this short chapter until then! I'll leave a proper big author's note in that one with my thanks and what not =] Enjoy!**

**Chapter 13.**

"Please just eat _something_, mate!" Ron pleaded with Harry a week later.

"He's right Harry. You have to eat something, can't you see that you're not healthy anymore?" Hermione persisted._ 'Anytime soon would be good, Draco.'_ She thought to herself.

Harry hadn't eaten anything more than two blueberry muffins in the past week and a half. Every time the food came out, he would look at it, know he should feel hungry, but feel sick whenever he thought about actually eating it. His body was getting weaker, he could feel and see it, but he still couldn't bring himself to eat. After just a muffin his stomach felt fit to burst and he had to sit down for an hour before the nausea had passed.

Ron and Hermione had tried to get him to go to Madame Pomfrey, but Harry kept refusing. He didn't see what the problem was; he felt fine, a bit tired and weak, but fine otherwise. He hadn't starved to death yet, which was what he was expecting after 9 days of no food, so he thought he was okay.

This morning was different though. This morning he felt like shit. His nightmares had been recurring as always and last night's had been particularly bad. On top of no nutrients in his diet, it had left Harry feeling frailer than ever. Yes, this morning was the morning he decided to go to Madame Pomfrey.

"I'm gonna go to the hospital wing." Harry said, interrupting Hermione's rant about nutrition in the diet. He stood and left before he could gauge their reactions and hurried to see Madame Pomfrey.

He arrived to see her eating her own breakfast in her office. She looked up in surprise when he appeared.

"Mr. Potter! I can't say I expected to see you here now that the war is over." She stood up from her tray and bustled over to him, tutting as she circled him before gently shoved him onto the nearest bed. "You look like a ghost!" she exclaimed. "Now just lie there still while I do some diagnostic spells." She took out her wand and started to wave it methodically over his body. When she reached his feet she stood back and frowned. Then recognition clicked in her head and she blushed, before seemingly remembering her position and coughing a bit to regain her composure.

"Have you recently..._fornicated_?" Both she and Harry flushed at the word and Harry coughed and nodded awkwardly.

"Why? Do I have some sort of disease? Oh dear Merlin, please don't tell me wizards can get pregnant or someth-" Harry froze as he realised what information he had just divulged.

"Ah. You were on the...receiving end. I see, yes that makes much more sense, it is usually the submissive..."

"Err, yeah." Harry mumbled. "So what's wrong with me?"

"It seems, Mr. Potter, that you have bonded magically with your partner." Harry paled.

"Bonded?" he asked weakly. "That's why I haven't been feeling hungry? But how does that work?"

"Your magic has manifested into a form that is, effectively, making you feel like you are satiated so you end up starving yourself." Harry paled further.

"My magic is trying to kill me? But why?"

"Well, it normally does so if you are depriving yourself of your bonded partner."

"But it can't be any other way. I can't be with him, he doesn't love me, I _have_ to separate myself from him." Harry wailed. "How do I break the bond?"

"The only way is for one of the couple to die." Madame Pomfrey said quietly. "But I can assure you Mr. Potter, two people cannot bond without mutual feelings between the pair. So whoever _'he'_ is, he feels the same as you." She smiled kindly at him. "I recommend that you spend some more, err, _'quality time'_ with him in order to cure your magic." she went a bit pink and then bustled off after telling Harry that he could leave at his own discretion.

Harry sat in the bed for a bit thinking over what the mediwitch had just told him. Did that mean that Draco had loved him all along? But Harry had pushed him away! How in the hell was he going to fix it? He sat in the bed for the whole of the morning staring into space, skipping his classes, until lunchtime. The moment classes were let out, Harry was graced by two visitors, Ron and Hermione (no surprises there). Both friends came in with worried expressions on their faces, fearing that there was something worse wrong with Harry than they had thought.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, "What's wrong? You missed all your morning classes, what did Madame Pomfrey say?"

"I bonded." Harry said simply, using his voice for the first time in hours. "I bonded with Draco and now my magic is trying to kill me because I haven't seen enough of him, apparently."

"Oh Harry, that's such good news!" Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

"Really?" both Ron and Harry replied, neither seeing the good side to this bonding.

"It won't break unless he or me dies, 'Mione. And it won't get better unless I sleep with him." Harry said.

"And he's not talking to the ferret right now, and Malfoy's meant to move on so he won't be able to get anywhere near his pants." Ron finished.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes but you two wouldn't have been able to bond if he didn't love you back. And bonding isn't just an everyday occurrence Harry, it only happens between powerful witches and wizards who are perfect for each other. The Muggle equivalent, I guess, would be a soulmate. It's for life, Harry. You two are practically married now." Harry's eyes went wide.

"Married?" he gasped.

"Harry!" Draco burst into the hospital wing, much to the tutting of Madame Pomfrey, and sped over to Harry's bed. "Look, I know we're not meant to be talking right now, but I heard that you were in the hospital wing all morning and I haven't seen you eat a thing at meal times for at least a week, and I couldn't just sit around and pretend I didn't care, so I had to come and see what was wrong. So? What _is_ wrong?" Draco blurted at a speed that required a couple of aftermath seconds just to understand and process what he said. However Harry, it seemed, had got used to Draco's super speed while he was friends with him, and just turned his pale face towards the source of the noise, eyes wide and staring like a house elf's.

"We're married." he said breathlessly.

"Um, what?" Draco asked, eyes as wide as Harry's and face even paler.

"We," Harry said again gesturing between himself and the blonde, "are married."

**Chapter End.**

**A/N:**** Sorry for another sort-of cliffhanger there, but the next (and last) chapter will be up later today (today in the UK at least) I promise!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:**** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

**A/N:**** Okay guys this is it! The final chapter! Thank you so much for everyone who's read it, favourited it, favourited me, added it to their alerts, reviewed, just everyone really! This is my first fic and I honestly couldn't have asked for a better or warmer welcome and reception on this site =] You are all wonderful people and I hope I don't disappoint you with this ending. I have tried to leave it slightly open so I can write a sequel in time, but also give it an ending that could serve its purpose as a finality to the story as well. Thank you again, enjoy!**

**Chapter 14.**

_"We," Harry said again gesturing between himself and the blonde, "are married."_

Hermione chose that moment to leap in and cover Harry's mouth with her hand. "He's just in shock." she said quickly before Draco could recover from his gaping-mouthed state. "He found something out from Madame Pomfrey which has just...impacted on him a bit."

"Clearly." Draco replied, flabbergasted. "What did she _tell_ him?" Hermione exchanged a look with Ron. "Oh Merlin, he's not pregnant is he? Is that even possible? Shit, what am I going to do, he doesn't even want to be with me, but now he's going to have to and he'll be so unhappy -"

"Malfoy, shut up for a second, will you?" Ron interjected. Malfoy's jaw snapped shut.

"He's not pregnant." Hermione stated calmly, "You have to have treatment for that, but I don't think it's our place to tell you what _is_ wrong." she slowly pulled her hand away from Harry's mouth. "Harry?" he turned to look at her. "Ron and I are going to go to lunch now, we're going to leave you to talk to Draco, alright? You tell him what Madame Pomfrey said." Harry nodded blankly and stared after the pair as they left.

"Harry?" Draco said and tentatively touched the back of Harry's clenched fist. The moment their skin touched goosebumps erupted on their skin and there was a loud crack inside their heads. Then suddenly Draco was sitting on the floor and had an arm and mouth full of a very horny Harry Potter. He groaned when he felt Harry's arousal press against his thigh and bucked his hips up, all thoughts of an explanation forgotten.

"Fuck." Harry groaned as he pulled off his trousers and boxers and quickly unzipped Draco's jeans. "I've never felt this needy before," he panted as he stroked Draco's cock reverently. "But I need you in me, and I need you _now_."

Draco moaned as he attached his mouth to Harry's again while Harry secured the room with a silencing and locking charm so strong that even Madame Pomfrey wouldn't be able to get out of her office attached to the wing. Then he stretched and lubricated himself with another flick of his wand, climbed into Draco's lap, and impaled himself onto his cock, pulling up and sitting down hard, fucking himself.

"Fu-u-uck. Draco, you feel so good!" Harry groaned as he slammed himself down harder and harder, building up to his climax. Draco merely grunted and pushed up further into Harry, then felt his balls tighten and his stomach coil before he exploded inside of Harry. As he was riding out his orgasm, he felt Harry tighten impossibly around him and watched him as he arched his back and came over himself, dirtying the shirt and robes he still had on.

"Oh sweet baby Jesus." Harry sighed as he relaxed into Draco's lap, still comfortably filled. "That was so fucking good." As if in agreement, Harry's stomach rumbled and growled. He sighed again in relief. "And I'm finally hungry." he clutched himself to Draco, ignoring the protests from his stomach.

"You make yourself hungry by having sex with me?" Draco asked, bemused.

"Hm? Yeah, something like that." Harry yawned. "I'll explain later, right now I'm sleepy." he stretched, yawned again, and promptly fell asleep on top of Draco. Draco smiled at the boy in his lap and smoothed his hair down with one hand while he gently pried himself away with another. He redressed Harry, _scorgified_ his clothes, put him in the bed they had forgotten about, and tucked himself back into his jeans before releasing the hospital ward of the charms that were in place.

Five minutes later, Madame Pomfrey bustled in from her office to hear almighty grumbles and growls of Harry's stomach. She raised her eyebrows at Draco and clucked,

"Though I do not appreciate your choice of location, I am glad to see that you two are seeing _'eye to eye'_ again. Kindly tell Mr. Potter that he is free to leave in the morning. If he can move, that is." Draco flushed as he realised how much the mediwitch knew, and stared determinedly at his hands in his lap. Madame Pomfrey chuckled to herself before leaving out the main doors of the wing.

* * *

><p>Harry woke up comfortably niched between a pillow and a warm body. He stretched experimentally and smiled to himself when he felt the arm over his waist tighten protectively. He rolled over to see the sleeping face of his beautiful jailer, and shuffled into Draco's chest, breathing in his scent. He sighed contentedly, thinking that this was the way things were meant to be.<p>

"Harry?" Harry looked up again at Draco and saw that he was now looking down at him with a steady grey gaze. "I'm assuming you won't rape me again if I touch you." he smirked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Shove off." Harry nudged Draco affectionately in the ribs, then leant his head up and pressed a quick peck to his lips before snuggling back down into his chest. "You know, last night was the first night I haven't had a nightmare in for years."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I think having you here helped." Harry smiled into Draco's chest and felt the Slytherin's arm tighten over him again.

They lay there like that for a few minutes until Draco broke the silence.

"As much as I love companionable silence, it does make it hard to address some issues such why you were here in the first place."

Harry sighed. He knew this moment had been coming, but he didn't want to scare Draco off. They were both still only eighteen, yet they had unknowingly gone through a process stronger and more binding than marriage. He knew that if Draco left then he would be the one to suffer. His magic would kill him.

"If you don't want it then we can look for ways to undo or get rid of it, so please don't freak out." Harry began.

"Harry you're worrying me now, what's wrong? Are you ill?"

"No! No, nothing like that. It's just, well, you remember the night of the Reunion Ball?" Draco mock grimaced,

"The night where you professed your love for a man other than me, yes, how could I forget? You cut me so deeply."

"What happened after, you twat."

"After?" Draco cocked his head to one side, eyes wide with feigned innocence, "I don't believe anything happened after. You probably went and raped the Weasel, no?"

Harry huffed in frustration. "Fine, if you don't want to know, then that's just fine."

Draco chuckled, "Harry, you know I want to know, but I would appreciate it ever so much if you could just spit it out. Despite how adorable I find you when you're grumpy, I'm worried about you and want to know what's wrong."

"Fine. As I was saying, on the night of the Ball we - well, we - the thing is, is that -"

"Harry." Draco warned.

"We bonded." Harry murmured in a very quiet voice. Draco went pale, paler than usual.

"We what?" he asked, shocked.

"We bonded, magically. When I stayed away from you my magic started to starve me, then went back to normal after last night. It's powerful. Hermione said that we're practically married now."

"_We_ are bonded? Us? You and me? _Together_?" Harry nodded grimly.

Suddenly Draco's face broke in half with the widest smile Harry had ever seen on anyone. Draco leapt out of bed, pulling Harry with him, and easily lifted the smaller boy (made lighter by a week and a half of starving) in the air and spun him round in a circle before kissing him soundly on the mouth.

"That's brilliant! Wonderful! Amazing news! We're _bonded_, Harry. You and me, forever!" he laughed, putting Harry back on the ground and hugging him. His moods were infectious and Harry found himself smiling as well, seeing that Draco wanted this.

"I love you, Harry. I'm sorry I couldn't say it before, I honestly didn't know what love was, I couldn't tell the difference. I was planning this big date for us in order to tell you, but then I heard you were here and I had to see you. But none of that matters anymore because I love you and we're bonded in a way that no one can break."

"I love you too, my dragon." Harry smiled up at Draco who grinned down, looking the happiest Harry had ever seen him.

"Just think, Harry, we have the whole future ahead of us." Draco spun round and started pacing and gesturing wildly with his hands. "We'll buy a house with a huge garden we can play Quidditch in, we'll buy a dog, and a cat, ten of each if you wanted them! We can convert a room into a nursery, decorate it with whatever we wanted, our kid would never want for anything. We could buy a swing set, build a swimming pool, plant creepers that will flower in the Summer. I can see it, Harry and it will be perfect." he returned to Harry and took his hands in his, looking into his emerald eyes. "You and me, _we'll_ be perfect."

Harry smiled and kissed Draco gently, "I love you so much, Draco. Anything you want I'll do. The whole future. All of it, every single thing you said, if you want it and you want me, it's yours."

Draco smiled, "You're amazing, you know that?"

"I've been told." Harry grinned. "Killing dark Lords does wonders for one's reputation."

"Twat. I wonder how people will react to the great Harry Potter being swept away by the evil Draco Malfoy."

"Hmm, you being evil. I can't imagine it. You'll have to show me one night."

Draco raised one elegant eyebrow. "Ever the adventurous Gryffindor, huh?" he growled, low in his chest.

"Ever the willing Slytherin, huh?" Harry replied, leaning up and licking Draco's lips like a snake. Draco groaned.

"Harry, you don't know what you do to me."

"Much the same as what you do to me, I guess." Just as Draco leant in for what would have ended as role-play sex, Harry's stomach gurgled unhappily, as if annoyed that it had been ignored for so long. "Ah. I'm afraid you'll have to contain your evil side for a little longer yet, my dragon. I need food. Pronto." Harry licked Draco's mouth again, this time slipping his tongue in to tease him and ducked under Draco's outstretched arms that were ready to ravish him. He ran through the doors and down thousands of stairs towards the kitchens, with Draco hot on his heels.

When they were gone, Madame Pomfrey emerged from her office and walked over to the frame of Albus Dumbledore they had installed in the hospital wing. "Well, Albus, I assume that this proves you right."

"My dear Poppy, in this world there were only two people who didn't judge Draco Malfoy by his 'cover', so to speak. Those two were an eleven-year-old Harry Potter and myself. Sadly I passed before I could prove just how wrong people were. Perhaps Harry will now be the one who can show the rest of the Wizarding World that one should never, under any circumstance, base their opinion on first impressions."

**Chapter End.**

**Story End.**

**A/N:**** Thank you for reading! Please review, even if you're someone reading this years from now, it's so lovely (and useful) to see what ideas people like and what they don't, so please keep it up! Thank you so much for all your support, and I hope to be back soon with another fic =]**


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